
wentietb Century 
* Classics * 



Vol 1. No. 3. 



November, 1899. 



Wyandot 
Folk-Lore 



Issued Monthly. 



Price, $1 per year. 



CRANE & COMPANY, PUBLISHE1 
110-112 EAST EIGHTH STREET, TOPEKA, KAN. 



/»«!! 



Glass 




Book -^B 3 tj 



lit 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
AND SCHOOL READINGS 

UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF 

W. M. DAVIDSON 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF TOPEKA, KANSAS 



^ 






WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS AND SCHOOL HEADINGS 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



WILLIAM ELSEY CONNELLEY 

Provisional Government of Nebraska Ter 
Thief tain ' of Kansas," " The Folk-Lore oj 



Author of " The Provisional Government of Nebraska TerHtory" "James Henry la. 
The 1 Grim Chieftain' of Kansas ," "The Folk-Lore of the Wyandots" etc, etc. 



So the day of their glory is over, 

And out on the desolate vast, 
The far-scattered remnant* yet hover, 
Like shade* of the long-vanished past." 



Crane & Company, Publishers 

Topeka, Kansas 

1899 

L 



TWO 



COPIES RECEIVED. 



library of Congress^ 
Office of tha 

Register of Copyright* 

EM 
■ W\C T 

55847 



Copyrighted by 

Crane & Company, Topeka, Kansas 

1899 



SdC-;w^ J,,/ « 






'. 



Lo, the poor Indian, whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds or hears him in the wind; 
His soul proud Science never taught to stray 
Far as the solar walk, or Milky Way ; 
Vet simpler Nature to his hope has given, 
Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven ; 
Some safer world, in depth of wood embraced, 
Some happier island in the watery waste, 
Where slaves once more their notice land behold. 
No friends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. 
To be, contents his natural desire ; 
He asks no angel's wing, no seraph' s fire ; 
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 
His faithful dog shall bear him company. 



— Pope. 



(5) 



I stand by our Grandmother in the great Yooh-wah-tah-yoh in 
the North. She speaks to me of the land of the Little People. 
She directs its to that land. She says to me, "My son, take this 
torch of fire. It is made from the brand given by your Grand- 
father. It is a guide in the darkness — a weapon powerful by the 
way. These it shall be to you as you journey to that land. And 
I shall come when all my children are there." 

I take the torch. The darkness rolls away. I see afar the land 
of the Little People. It is the land of our Mother, the Turtle. I 
come into the land of strange light. The waters are blue as the 
sky ; they sparkle and glitter in the light. They are sweet, and 
the deer delights to drink them as they tumble among the stones. 
The rivers run towards the South. At the foot of the tall rock the 
great stream rolls. The swaying bushes are thick upon its shores. 
They bend to the breezes of that land. Trees are where I stand, 
upon a crag which rises from the flat mountain-top. The river is 
under my feet. A warrior comes to me. He says: 

"There is one more trial of your courage. Look beyond the 
river. There lies the land of the -Little People." 

Then I looked. There was the bright sunshine on the groves 
and fields. The land rose in swells. It rolled in gentle hills. 
Great beams of light shone more strongly at some points. The 
hills were beautiful. The Little People were there. And a great 
host stood upon the mountains. They were the Wyandots of old. 
Then did my courage burn strong within me. Then did I say—. 
— \ Fragment of an old Wyandot song. 



(<■») 



PREFATORY NOTES 



The folk-lore of the Wyandots should be peculiarly 
interesting to Kansas students. It will be conceded, I 
believe, that the emigrant tribes were in every way supe- 
rior to the native tribes of Kansas Indians. The Wy- 
andots were the recognized head of the emigrant tribes. 
And this superiority had been accorded them by the emi- 
grant tribes themselves. It was of ancient date and long 
standing. As early as 1750 the Northwestern Confeder- 
acy was formed, and the Wyandots were made the keepers 
of the council-fire thereof. In 1848 this Confederacy was 
renewed in Kansas at a great council held near Fort 
Leavenworth, and the Wyandots confirmed in their an- 
cient and honorable position. 



As a tribe the Wyandots favored the organization of 
Nebraska (Kansas) Territory. Indeed, they made the 
first effective efforts in this direction. They established 
a Provisional government at the mouth of the Kansas 
river, in 1853. The first man to bear the title of Gov- 
ernor of Nebraska (Kansas) was William Walker, a 
Wyandot Indian, a gentleman of education, refinement, 
and great strength of character. The metropolis of the 

(7) 



PREFATORY 



State is but the development of a Wyandot village into a 
great modern citv. 



& 



Twenty years ago, seeing that no collection of the folk- 
lore of this interesting people had ever been attempted, 
T began to gather and record such of it as I could find. 
Most of it had then been lost by the tribe. This will not 
seem strange when it is known that Wyandots were even 
at that time of more than one-half white blood. There is 
not so much as a half-blood Wyandot now living. The last 
fnll-blood Wyandot died in Canada about 1820. I began 
the work at a most fortunate time. There were then 
living many very old Wyandots who remembered much 
of their tribal history and folk-lore. These are now dead, 
with but a single exception. The generation now living 
could furnish no folk-lore of value. Few of them speak 
their language. Not half a dozen of them can speak the 
pure Wyandot, Their reservation near Seneca, Missouri, 
in the Indian Territory, is not different from the well- 
tilled portions of our country. They are good farmers, 
and have schools and churches. Stih-yeh'-stah, or Cap- 
tain Bull-Head, was the last pagan Wyandot; he died in 
Wyandotte county, Kansas, about the year 18 HO. 



In the Journsrf of American Folk-Lore for June, 1899, 
I published a paper on the " Folk-Lore of the Wyandots.' 1 
The following explanatory note of my work will be found 
on page 125 ; it tells how I came to begin this work: 

''The writer of this paper, author of the Provisional Government 
of Nebraska Territory, member of the Nebraska State Historical 



PTCTCFATOTCY 



9 



Society, and chairman of the Committee on American Ethnology, 
Western Historical Society, Kansas City, Mo., is an adopted Wy- 
andot of the Deer Clan, raised up to fill the position of Sahr'-stahr- 
rah'-tseh, the famous chief of the Wyandots known to history as 
the Half-King. The latter was chief during the war of the Revo- 
lution, and one of the founders of the Northwestern Confederacy 
of Indians,, that opposed so long the settlement of the territory 
northwest of the Ohio river. The Wyandots stood at the head of 
this confederacy, and were the keepers of the Council Fire thereof. 
" The writer, who has also received the Wyandot name of Deh / - 
hehn-yahn'-teh, The Rainbow, has had frequent occasion to trans- 
act business for this people, and in the course of such duty has 
become interested in their language, history, manners, customs, 
and religious beliefs. He has also written an account of the clan 
system and other features of the tribal society. He has prepared 
an extensive vocabulary of the language, not yet published, and 
made a collection of the songs which by missionaries and others 
have been rendered into the Wyandot tongue. At the present 
time the opportunity for such studies has passed away, inasmuch 
as the old Wyandots from whom this information was received, 
with one exception, have died, and the present generation is wholly 
ignorant of the ancient beliefs. No folk-lore could be obtained 
from any Wyandot now living, and few can speak the language." 



Only a brief outline of the folk-lore of the Wyandots 
can be presented in a *work of this kind. And what is 
given is necessarily divested of much of its force and 
beauty because of the omission of all Wyandot language 
in expressing Wyandot terms. Nothing in this field has 
been published before, and the writer lias been encouraged 
by students in all parts of the country to publish the 
results of his labors in the interest of science. Tie has a 
very extensive Vocabulary of the Wyandot language, the 
only one ever prepared. It is his intention to publish this 
and the complete work on the folk-lore of the tribe. 



10 PREFATORY 

The folk-lore of the Wyandots contains many beautiful 
things. It is to be hoped that our teachers will come to 
see the beauties of all American folk-lore, and give it 
that attention which it deserves from American students. 
It is practically an unexplored field. Treasures lie hidden 
in it. Who will lend a hand to dig them out ? 

Wm. E. C. 

Topeka, Kansas, November 11, 1899. 



HISTORICAL REVIEW 



GENERAL REMARKS 

But all the story of the night told over, 
And all their minds transfigur'd so together, 
More witnesseth than fancy's images, 
And grows to something of great constancy, 
But, howsoever, strange and admirable. 

— A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

The term " folk-lore " is broad in its significance ; it 
embraces much. The traditional customs and beliefs of 
a people are a part of their folk-lore. This may apply to 
those believed in or practiced in the present ; it has special 
application to those of a past age. Traditions handed 
down from father to son are a part of the folk-lore of a 
people. Where isolation or ignorance gives rise to super- 
stitious tales and beliefs, we include these in the folk-lore 
of that people. It does not always follow that a custom 
or a saying must be of a long-gone age, to become a part 
of our folk-lore. The folk-lore of our own times is en- 
riched by many of the quaint and homely sayings of 
Franklin. Beliefs and superstitions of ages long gone by, 
or so remote in origin that they are attributed to a divine 
origin, belong to folk-lore. We now make this term in- 
clude what is properly mythology. Of the two terms, 
" folk-lore " and " mythology," folk-lore is by far the 

(ii) 



12 



TWENTIETH OENTTTRY CLASSICS 



most oompreheiisive in its modern acceptation. It follows 
that a belief need not embrace a truth to become folk-lore. 
Most folk-lore is made np of scientific absurdities. All 
mythology consists of ancient beliefs now demonstrated to 
be incorrect and erroneous. 

This last proposition being true, where is the profit 
in the study of the folk-lore and mythology of a people? 
The answer and reason lie in the fact that the folk-lore 
is the record of the progress of a people. Their ancient 
beliefs lie embodied in it. If we can find out what a 
people have believed in a bygone age, we can from that 
determine the condition of such people in that age. All 
development, animate and inanimate, has been the same 
We examine the rocks of a certain age of the earth, and 
ascertain precisely the conditions of the earth at that time. 
For only certain well-known, well-defined, and scientific- 
ally demonstrated physical conditions can produce such 
results as we find existing in such age. Folk-lore might 
well be denominated the geology of the progress of the 
human mind. For certain degrees of development of the 
human mind produce certain thoughts and actions which 
are impossible to any other degree of its advancement. 
Folk-lore thus become in a sense the record of human 
progress, but more particularly the record of the develop- 
ment of the mind from savagery to civilization. As an 
instance simple and easily comprehended, we cite the 
homely adage, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the 
bush." Only a people of a practical turn could have 
originated it. But how many centuries passed with the 
principle recognized but without any concise expression 
of it! This is the simplest form in which this truth can 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 13 

be expressed; the whole subject is crystallized, and its 
form becomes a proverb. No further progress in simpli- 
fication can be made; the coinage of this adage marks the 
close of progress in this particular instance. So it is in all 
the processes of mental development, both great and small, 
in all matters, in all times, and in all directions. 

Then the emotions of a people during its ages of 
progress from savagery to civilization are imbedded in its 
folk-lore. So, also, of the cruelty, tenderness, and all 
other traits, properties, or qualities of the mind. This is 
distinctly discernible in the comparison of the folk-lore 
of one people with that of another — for a contrast, that 
of the Irish with that of the Corsican; the German with 
the Arabian, etc. The chief value of folk-lore, though, 
is in its demonstration of the principle that all human 
progress has been along certain lines which by it are 
proved to be inherent in and common to the mind of man. 
And, further, that all development, of mind and matter, 
men and worlds, peoples and planetary systems, is along 
one line here plainly marked for us by the hand of the 
Infinite. 

American folk-lore is the result of the foregoing prin- 
ciples applied to the Indians, the aboriginal inhabitants 
of our country. For the white race in America have not 
become a people with a distinct folk-lore. We are yet de- 
veloping the Gaelic, Saxon, German and other folk-lores. 
So the term "American folk-lore" as yet applies only i«, 
that of the aborigines. 

We find in the North-American Indians many distinct 
families and all degrees of mental strength. The folk- 
lore preserved indicates that this has always been true. 



14 TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 

Where we find the figures bold, clear, well defined, stamped 
with strong characteristics, we say that the people origi- 
nating it were brave, hardy, mentally strong, and possessed 
of well-defined objects, aims and tendencies which they 
were consciously or unconsciously developing. If, on the 
other hand, we find a tribal folk-lore confused, with no 
well-defined characters or figures, but with only dim and 
indistinct outlines, we say at once that the people produc- 
ing it were low mentally, of an inferior type, possessing 
no vigor of mind. The folk-lore of the Iroquoian family 
of Indians is one of the strongest, boldest, most striking 
found in America. And there is little doubt but that of 
the Wyandots is the foremost in these features found in 
the folk-lores of the Iroquoian family. In boldness, orig- 
inality, clearness of perception and strength of conception 
the folk-lore of the Wyandots surpasses that of any other 
tribe with which I am familiar. 

We repeat, that in all the lands of the earth man has 
advanced from savagery towards civilization along the 
same general lines. The bone awl, the thread of sinew, 
the skin garment, the shell ornament, the stone imple- 
ment, the bow and the arrow, are not peculiar to the peo- 
ple of the New World. And this fact makes the study of 
primitive man as found in the forests of North America 
one of supreme importance — of intense interest. For here 
we may see ways similar in many respects to those which 
the Somite, the Egyptian, the Greek, the Celt, the Teuton 
trod in their ever restless, irresistible, often unconscious 
and unconsenting advancement to something higher and 
better. 

In the following pages I have endeavored to set out 



WYANDOT FOLK-LOllE 15 

truthfully the degree of mental attainment, the condition 
and character of the social, political and religions institu- 
tions of ilie ancient Wyandots as evidenced by the frag- 
ments of their legendary lore that have come down to ns. 
Let ns look at this people in the pagan days when they 
had not seen the white man. Let ns go hack four hundred 
years and enter the thick woods of Canada and "New 
York. Let ns look once again upon the broad, majestic 
rivers, the clear streams, the boiling rapids, the foaming 
cataracts, the crystal lakes, all before the paleface had 
defiled them with his blighting touch. Let ns gaze upon 
the forests, broad, dense, gloomy. We shall hear the 
winter storm roaring through the branches of the great 
trees and see the North Wind rend and break them in his 
wrath. We shall see the thick blanket of snow spread 
clown over the world by Winter. And when spring comes 
we shall see this scene change within a month. The snows 
melt, the ice disappears, the North Wind returns to his 
lair. Leaves spring from every bough; ducks, geese, 
swans, gulls, pelicans and other " water-fowl swim, soar, 
wade and scream. The silver side of the trout flashes as 
he leaps above the waters now released from their icy 
fetters. The wolf prowls, and the panther screams to his 
fellows. The heavy bear lumbers clumsily through the 
woods and startles the light and graceful deer. Insects 
hum and whiz and drone. Spring melts into the full and 
fruitful summer. The oak, the hickory, the hazel, thf* 
beech, the walnut, the wild vine, weight their branches 
with fruit to be ripened by the mellow rays of the hazy 
sun of the voluptuous autumn. 

And what of man? He is here. See that village by 



16 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

the sparkling lake where the blue hills descend gently to 
the pebbly beach. And another, and still another beyond. 
Strange people dwell there. They have seen no man dif- 
ferent from themselves. Of our arts, our civilization, our 
religion, they know nothing. Whatever they have of these 
they have made for themselves. And we shall find that they 
have an expressive and strong language, strange religious 
beliefs and complex social systems and political institu- 
tions. They cultivate the corn plant, and have domesticated 
a species of dog. They have become proficient in the culti- 
vation and curing of tobacco, and in the barter of it to 
surrounding tribes that have come to depend upon them 
for this Indian luxury and blessing. They long since 
began to take note of things about them. They have 
sought to account for all the phenomena of the heavens 
and the earth. 

Their conclusions were fixed by the light they had been 
able to attain, and are ridiculous when seen in the light 
we now stand in to view them, but not more so than those 
of the Chinese, the Greeks, the Celts, the East Indians, 
the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and the 
ancient Teutons. And while they are absurd when meas- 
ured and weighed by modern science and civilized learn- 
ing, they are beautiful in conception, and they reveal a 
mentality of strength and persistency. 



NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE 
WYANDOTS 



I.— NAME. 

Lalemant says the original and true name of the Wyan- 
dots is OUENDAT. 

In history the Wyandots have been spoken of by the 
following names : 

1. Tionnontates, 

2. Etionontates, 

3. Tuinontatek, 

4. Dionondadies, 

5. Khionontaterrhonons, 

6. Petuneux or Nation du Petun (Tobacco). 
They call themselves 

1. Wehn'-diiht, or 

2. Wehn'-dooht. 

They never accepted the name Huron, which is of 
French origin. It is not certain that they were entitled 
to the name Huron. They make no such claim them- 
selves. 

The Wyandots have been always considered the rem- 
nant of the Hurons. That they were related to the people 
called Hurons by the French, there is no doubt, and upon 
this point there is no dispute and can be no question. 
After having studied them carefully for almost twenty 

-3 (17) 



18 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



years, I am of the opinion that the Wyandots are more 
closely related to the Senecas than they were to the 
ancient Ilurons. 

Both myth and tradition of the Wyandots say they 
were "created" in the region between St. James's Bay 
and the -oast of Labrador. All their traditions describe 
their ancient home as north of the mouth of the St. 
Lawrence. 

In their traditions of their migrations southward they 
say they came to the island where Montreal now stands. 
They took possession of the country along the north bank 
of the St. Lawrence from the Ottawa river to a large 
lake and river far below Quebec. The lower or eastern 
boundary cannot now be definitely fixed. It was bounded 
by this large river, they say. 

This country they called by a name which means, in 
their language, " the rivers rushing by," or " the country 
of rushing waters." They claim that while they resided 
there they numbered many thousands, and that they were 
the dominant power in all that country. 

On the south side of the St. Lawrence lived the Senecas, 
so the Wyandot traditions recite. The Senecas claimed 
the island upon which the city of Montreal is built. The 
Senecas and Wyandots have always claimed a cousin re- 
lation with each other. They say that they have been 
neighbors from time immemorial. Their languages are 
almost the same, each being the dialect of an older common 
mother-tongue. They are as nearly alike as are the Sen- 
eca and Mohawk dialects. The two tribes live side by 
side at this time, and each can speak the tongue of the 
other as well as it speaks its own. 



W V A N DOT FOLK-LOKE 



19 



The Wyandots say that the Delawares lived to the east 
of them, on the lower St. Lawrence, and on its north bank. 
They were on friendly terms, perhaps in friendly alli- 
ance. This part of the tradition I regard as possible, and 
indeed probable, and proved by the clans or totems of the 
Delawares, for with them the Turtle Clan is considered 
the oldest and of most importance. The Delawares are 
said to be the oldest of Algonquin tribes, and it is more 
than probable that they obtained their ideas of the impor- 
tance of the Turtle from the Iroqnoian peoples. 

To the west of the Wyandot country lived the Ottawas, 
so the Wyandot traditions claim. 

When the Wyandots came to the St, Lawrence, and 
how long they remained there, cannot now be determined. 
Their traditions say that they were among those that met 
Cartier at Hochelaga in 1535. According to their tradi- 
tions, ITochelaga was a Seneca town. 

It has been the opinion of writers upon the subject that 
the Wyandots migrated from the St. Lawrence directly 
to the point where they were found by the French. What- 
ever the fact may be, their traditions tell a different 
story. They claim to have become involved in a deadly 
war with the Senecas because of murders committed by a 
Wyandot at the instigation of a Seneca woman. 

Hale makes Peter D. Clarke say that the Wyandots fled 
to the northwest to escape the consequences of this war 
with the Senecas. That they fled for this purpose is 
true, but neither Clarke nor Wyandot tradition says that 
they fled to the northwest. Their route was up the St. 
Lawrence, which they crossed, and along the south shore 
of Lake Ontario. They held this course until they arrived 



20 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



at the Falls of Niagara, where they settled and remained 
for some years. They called this point in their wander- 
ings by their name for waterfalls. This Wyandot word 
means " the stream falls into itself," or " tumbles down 
to its new level from the rock above." Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, was so called by them from the Falls of the Ohio. 

The Wyandots removed from the Falls of Niagara, 
the site now occupied by Toronto, Canada. Their removal 
from Niagara was in consequence of the Iroquois coming 
into their historic seat in what is now New York. This 
settlement they called by their word which means 
" plenty," or " a land of plenty." They named it so be- 
cause of the abundance of game and fish they found, and 
of the abundance of corn, beans, squashes and tobacco 
they raised. The present name of that city is only a 
slight change of the old Wyandot name, which was pro- 
nounced " To-run-to." 

As the Senecas pushed farther westward, the Wyandots 
became uneasy, and finally abandoned their country at 
Toronto and migrated northward. Here they came in 
contact with the Hurons, who tried to expel them, but 
were unable to do so. The French found them in alliance 
with the Hurons, but record that they had but recently 
been at war with that people. When the Jesuits went 
among the Hurons the Wyandots were a part of the Huron 
Confederacy. Their history from this point is well known. 

If it turns out that there is any reliance to be placed 
in the traditions of the Wyandots, they were found in their 
historic seat about one hundred and five years from the 
time they were first seen by the French at Montreal in 
1535. Their migration from the St. Lawrence, by way 



WYANDOT FOT.K-ILORE 21 

of the Niagara Falls and Toronto to the Blue Mountains 
on the shores of the Nottawassaga Bay, occurred after 
the French first came to Canada. 

The Wyandots were involved in the general ruin 
wrought by the Iroquois. I subjoin a short account by 
Parkman of the wanderings of the Wyandots after the 
destruction of the Hurons by the Five Nations. It is 
taken from " The Jesuits in North America," which 
should be read by every one desiring a knowledge of the 
Wyandots at all full or complete : 

" In the woody valleys of the Blue Mountains, south of 
the Nottawassaga Bay of Lake Huron, and two days' 
journey west of the frontier Huron towns, lay the nine 
villages of the Tobacco Nation, or Tionnontates. In 
manners as in language, they closely resembled the Hurons. 
Of old they were their enemies, but were now at peace 
with them, and about the year 1640 became their close 
confederates. Indeed, in the ruin which befell that hap- 
less people, the Tionnontates alone retained a tribal or- 
ganization; and their descendants, with a trifling excep- 
tion, are to this day the sole inheritors of the Huron 01 
Wyandot name. Expatriated and wandering, they held 
for generations a paramount influence among the West- 
ern tribes. In their original seats among the Blue Moun- 
tains, they offered an example extremely rare among 
Indians, of a tribe raising a crop for the market; for they 
traded in tobacco largely with other tribes. Their Huron 
confederates, keen traders, would not suffer them to pass 
through their country to traffic with the French, preferring 



22 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

to secure for themselves the advantage of bartering with 
them in French goods at an enormous profit. 

" The division of the Hurons called the Tobacco Na- 
tion, favored by their isolated position among the moun- 
tains, held their ground longer than the rest ; but at length 
they, too, were compelled to fly, together with such other 
Hurons as had taken refuge with them. They made their 
way northward, and settled on the Island of Michili- 
mackinac, where they were joined by the Ottawas, who 
with other Algonquins had been driven by fear of the 
Iroquois from the western shores of Lake Huron and the 
banks of the River Ottawa. At Michilimackinac the 
Hurons and their allies were again attacked by the Iro- 
quois, and, after remaining several years, they made an- 
other move, and took possession of the islands at the 
mouth of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. Even here 
their old enemy did not leave them in peace; whereupon 
they fortified themselves on the mainland, and afterwards 
migrated southward and westward. This brought them 
in contact with the Illinois, an Algonquin people, at that 
time very numerous, but who, like many other tribes at 
this epoch, were doomed to a rapid diminution from wars 
with other savage nations. Continuing their migration 
westward, the Hurons and Ottawas reached the Missis- 
sippi, where they fell in with the Sioux. They soon 
quarreled with those fierce children of the prairie, who 
drove them from their country. They retreated to the 
southwestern extremity of Lake Superior, and settled on 
Point Saint Esprit, or Shagwamigon Point, near the Isl- 
ands of the Twelve Apostles. As the Sioux continued to 
harass them, they left this place about the year 1671, and 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 23 

returned to Michilimackinac, where they settled, not on 
the island, but on the neighboring point, St. Ignace, ncm 
Graham's Point, on the north side of the strait. The 
greater part of them afterwards removed thence to De- 
troit and Sandusky, where they lived under the name of 
Wyandots until the present century, maintaining a marked 
influence over the surrounding Algonquins. They bore 
an active part, on the side of the French, in the war which 
ended in the reduction of Canada; and they were the 
most formidable enemies of the English in the Indian 
war under Pontiac. The government of the United 
States at length removed them to reserves on the Western 
frontier, where a remnant of them may still be found. 
Thus it appears that the Wyandots, whose name is so con- 
spicuous in the history of our border wars, are descendants 
of the ancient Hurons, and chiefly of that portion of them 
called the Tobacco Nation." 

The Wyandots came to what is now Wyandotte county, 
Kansas, in the summer and fall of 1843, from Wyandot 
county, Ohio. They had been promised 148,000 acres 
of land in Kansas, but so large a body could not then be 
found unclaimed. They turned to their old friends, their 
nephews, the Delawares, who had been removed West some 
years before and given a large reservation on the north 
side of the Kansas river, the eastern boundary of which 
was the Missouri river. The Delawares sold them the land 
in the fork of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. Their 
reservation consisted of thirty-nine sections of land, for 
which they paid the Delawares $48,000. This land is 
all in Wyandotte county. 



24 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Most of the Wyandots were civilized when they arrived 
in Kansas. But there were pagans among them to the 
number of about one hundred. They brought with them 
a Methodist Church fully organized, to which some two 
hundred and fifty of them belonged. This was the old 
mission founded at Upper Sandusky by John Stewart 
and James B. Finley, and was the first mission ever es- 
tablished by the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is now 
the Washington Avenue M. E. Church, in Kansas City, 
Kansas. 

In 1855 the Wyandots made a treaty in which they 
dissolved their tribal relations and received their land in 
severalty, and "became citizens of the United States. In 
1867 the Government allowed such of them as desired 
to do so to resume their tribal relations, and purchased 
them a reservation of twenty thousand acres from the 
Senecas, in the Indian Territory. This reservation is 
near Seneca, Mo., and the Wyandot tribe live on it at 
the present time. This land is allotted to them, and is 
in a good state of cultivation, they being good farmers, 
and an industrious and orderly people. They maintain 
schools for their children, and many of them are members 
of the churches of the Methodist and Quaker denomina- 
tions. They have good dwellings; and much stock, con- 
sisting of hogs, cattle and horses, is raised and sold. The 
thriving iittle town of Wyandotte, on the Frisco railroad, 
is the metropolis of their country. It is situated in one of 
the most beautiful valleys in the Indian Territory. 

The Wyandots are now more white than Indian. They 
are a generous and hospitable people, and very kind and 
obliging to strangers. 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



25 



II.— WYANDOT GOVEKNMENT. 

The government of the ancient Wyandots was, in its 
highest functions, a pure democracy. While it rested upon 
the system of clans 1 for the execution of its details, 
anything affecting the interests of the whole people was 
decided in a mass convention convened according to well- 
defined custom or law. In this convention women had as 
much voice as the men. 

The tribe was anciently divided into twelve clans, , or 
gentes. Each of these had a local government, consist- 
ing of a clan counsel presided over by a clan chief. These 
clan counsels were composed of at least five persons, one 
man and four women, and they might contain any number 
of women above four. Any business pertaining purely to 
the internal affairs of the clans was carried to the clan 
councils for settlement. An appeal was allowed from the 
clan council to the tribal council. The four women of the 
clan council regulated the clan affairs and selected the 
clan chief. The office of clan chief was in a measure 
hereditary, although not wholly so. The tribal council 
was composed of the clan chiefs, the hereditary sachem, 
and such other men of the tribe of renown as the sachem 
might with the consent of the tribal council call to the 
council-fire. In determining a question the vote was by 
clans, and not by individuals. In matters of great im- 
portance it required a unanimous vote to carry a propo- 
sition. 



] Gens is a better word — the proper word. But the Wyandots say clan or tribe 
when speaking of this tribal subdivision. 



26 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

The names of the ancient clans of the Wyandot tribe 
are as follows: 

1. Big Turtle, 

2. Little Turtle. 

3. Mud Turtle. 

4. Wolf. 

5. Bear. 

6. Beaver. 

7. Deer. 

8. Porcupine. 

0. Striped Turtle. 

10. Highland Turtle, or Prairie Turtle. 

11. Snake. 

12. Hawk. 

These clan names are all expressed in Wyandot words 
so long and hard to properly pronounce that they are 
omitted here. They are written in what the Wyandots 
call the Order of Precedence and Encampment, as I 
have recorded them above. On the march the warriors 
of the Big Turtle Clan marched in front, those of the 
Little Turtle Clan marched next to them, and so on down 
to the last clan, except the Wolf Clan, which had command 
of the march and might be where its presence was most 
necessary. The tribal encampment was formed " on the 
shell of the Big Turtle," as the old Wyandots said. This 
means that the tents were arranged in a circular form as 
though surrounding the shell of the Big Turtle. The Big- 
Turtle Clan was placed where the right fore-leg of the 
turtle was supposed to be and the other clans were arranged 
around in their proper order, except the Wolf Clan, which 



WYA-NBOT FOLK-LORE 27 

could be in the center of the inclosure on the turtle's 
back, or in front of it where the turtle's head was sup- 
posed to be, as it was thought best. In ancient times all 
their villages were built in this order, and in the tribal 
council the clans took this order in seating themselves, 
with the sachem either in the center or in the front of the 
circle, and the chief of the Wolf Clan attending at the 
door of the council chamber. 

These clans were separated into two divisions, called 
phratries. The first phratry consisted of the following 
tribes : 

1. Bear. 

2. Deer. 

3. Snake. 

4. Hawk. 

The second phratry consisted of the following tribes: 

1. Big Turtle. 

2. Little Turtle. 

3. Mud Turtle. 

4. Beaver. 

5. Porcupine. 

6. Striped Turtle. 

7. Highland Turtle, or Prairie Turtle. 

The Mediator, Executive Power, and Umpire of the 
tribe was the Wolf Clan, which stood between the phra- 
tries, and bore a cousin relation to each. 

All the clans of a phratry bore the relation of brothers 
to one another, and the clans of one phratry bore the rela- 
tion of cousins to those of the other phratry. 

Their marriage laws were fixed by this relationship. 



28 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



Anciently a man of the first phratry was compelled to 
marry a woman of the second phratry, and vice versa. 
This was because every man of a phratry was supposed to 
be the brother of every other man in it, and every woman 
in the phratry was supposed to be his sister. The law of 
marriage is now so modified that it applies only to the 
clans, a man of the Deer Clan being permitted to marry 
a woman of Bear, Snake, Hawk, or any other clan but his 
own. Indeed, even this modification has now almost dis- 
appeared. If a man of the Deer Clan married a woman 
of the Porcupine Clan, all his children were of the Porcu- 
pine Clan, for the gens always follows the woman and 
never the man. The descent and distribution of property 
followed the same law; the son could inherit nothing 
from his father, for they were always of different clans. 
A man's property descended to his nearest kindred through 
his mother. The woman is always the head of the Wyan- 
dot family. 

Five of the ancient clans of the Wyandots are extinct. 
They are as follows: (1) Mud Turtle; (2) Beaver; (3) 
Striped Turtle; (4) Highland, or Prairie Turtle; (5) 
Hawk. 

Those still in existence are as follows: (1) Big Turtle; 
(2) Little Turtle; (3) Wolf; (4) Deer; (5) Bear; (6) 
Porcupine; (7) Snake. 

The present government of the Wyandot tribe is based 
on this ancient division of the tribes. An extract from 
the Constitution may be of interest. It was adopted Sep- 
tember 23, 1873: 

" It shall be the duty of the said Nation to elect their 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



29 



officers on the second Tuesday in July of each year. 
That said election shall he conducted in the following 
manner. Each Tribe (clan), consisting of the following 
Tribes: The Big and Little Turtle, Porcupine, Deer, 
Bear, and Snake, shall elect a chief; and then the Big 
and Little Turtle and Porcupine Tribes shall select one of 
their three chiefs as a candidate for Principal Chief. The 
Deer, Bear, and Snake Tribes shall also select one of their 
three Chiefs as a candidate for Principal Chief; and then 
at the general election to be held on the day above men- 
tioned, the one receiving the highest number of votes cast 
shall be declared the Principal Chief; the other shall be 
declared the Second Chief. The above-named Tribes shall 
on the above-named election day elect one or more sher- 
iffs. 

" The Wolf Tribe shall have the right to elect a Chief 
whose duty shall be that of Mediator. 

" In case of misdemeanor on the part of any Chief, 
for the first offense the Council shall send the Mediator to 
warn the party ; for the second offense the party offending 
shall be liable to removal by the Mediator, or Wolf and 
his Clan, from office." 

This has always been the position and office of the 
Wolf Clan. 

Anciently the office of sachem or head chief was in a 
manner hereditary in a clan and in a family, but if the 
heir was considered unfit to exercise authority he whs 
passed over, and a sachem selected by the tribal council. 
In this event the chief was first nominated by the chiefs 
of the Big Turtle, Deer, and Bear Clans, but not neccs- 



30 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



sarily from their own clans, and never from the Bear 
Clan. The nomination was from the family of the chief 
passed over unless there was no suitable person in the 
family, when it must be from his clan. But in cases of 
emergency, or of great ability in a warrior not in the line 
of heredity, the hereditary chief, family or clan might be 
passed over by the tribal council and the man of superior 
ability chosen. 

Thus the last Sahr'-stahr-rah'-tseh of the tribe was of 
the Deer Clan, and was known to the white men as the 
Half King. He was the hereditary sachem of the Wyan- 
dots. He died in Detroit in 1788, and was succeeded by 
Tarhe of the Porcupine Clan. Tarhe was selected because 
of his ability. 

The passing over of the candidate entitled to the chief- 
taincy by heredity did not operate as an entire divestment 
of his family or clan of their hereditary rights, and as 
soon as they could produce a suitable person for the 
office they could demand their rights. After the battle of 
Fallen Timbers (with General Wayne), the Deer Clan 
was permanently divested of its hereditary right, the 
sachemship. This was done at the instance of the Porcu- 
pine Clan, which had possessed the chieftaincy since the 
death of the Half King, but the Deer Clan protested 
against this infringement of the ancient law, and its 
hereditary right, and has never relinquished claim to 
the hereditary right to select the sachem. 

The office of Sahr'-stahr-rah'-tseh was a special creation, 
and the highest conferred by the tribe. This officer was 
in power like our President, and like our General of the 
army, and like the Pope, possessing the highest political, 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



31 



military and spiritual power. It was not often bestowed. 
After the death of the Half King it remained vacant 
until the present writer was " raised up " to fill his place, 
on the 22d day of March, 1899. 

The origin of these clans is hidden in the obscurity of 
great antiquity. They are of religious origin. We learn 
something of them from the Wyandot mythology, or 
folk-lore. The ancient Wyandots -believed that they were 
descended from these animals, for whom their clans were 
named. The animals from which they were descended 
were different from the animal of the same species to- 
day. They were deities, zoological gods. The animals 
of the same species are descended from them. These 
Animals were the creators of the universe. The Big 
Turtle made the Great Island, as North America was 
called by the Wyandots, and he bears it on his back to 
this day. The Little Turtle made the sun, moon, and 
many of the stars. The Mud Turtle made a hole through 
the Great Island for the sun to pass back to the East 
through after setting at night, so he could rise upon a 
new day. While making this hole through the Great Isl- 
and the Mud Turtle turned aside from her work long- 
enough to fashion the future home of the Wyandots, their 
happy hunting-grounds, to which they go after death. 
The sun shines there at night while on his way back to the 
East. This land is called the land of the Little People, a 
race of pigmies created to assist the Wyandots. They 
live in it, and preserve the ancient customs, habits, be- 
liefs, Janguage and government of the Wyandots for their 
use after they leave this world by death. These Little 



32 



TWENTIETH CENTUEY CLASSICS 



People come and go through the " living rock," but the 
Wyandots must go to it by way of a great underground 
city where they were once hidden while the works of the 
world were being restored after destruction in a war be- 
tween two brothers who were gods. 

I only stop a moment to note the fact that the ancient 
belief of the Hindoos pictured the world as borne up by 
a great turtle. Is it not entirely possible that it may be 
determined that America is the cradle of the human race, 
and that Asia was peopled from America ? The Indian 
belongs to the Mongolian race, and there are many traits 
common to them and the Chinese. It is possible that when 
Ave study the Indians we study the oldest people in the 
world, instead of the youngest. 

The religion of the Wyandots was undergoing slow 
change when arrested by the coming of the white man. 
The old Animal-gods were slowly giving place to two 
brothers born of a woman who fell down from heaven. One 
of these was good and the other bad. We shall learn of 
them in the mythology. 

All Wyandot proper names had their foundation in 
this clan system. They were clan names. The unit of 
the Wyandot social and political systems was not the 
family nor the individual, but the clan. The child be- 
longed to its clan first, to its parents afterwards. Each 
clan had its list of proper names, and this list was its 
exclusive property which no other clan could appropriate 
or use. They were necessarily clan names. They were 
constructed according to rigid rules and usages prescribed 
by immemorial custom, and the laws of the Medes and Per- 
sians were more easily changed than those of the ancient 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



33 



Tionnontates. Ko laws of nations are so rigidly enforced 
as was custom in Indian tribes in ancient times. Custom 
was inflexible — exacting — and could he modified only by 
long and persistent effort (and then by almost impercep- 
tible degrees), or by national disaster. 

The customs and usages governing the formation of 
clan proper names demanded that they be derived from 
some part, habit, action or peculiarity of the animal from 
which the clan was supposed to be descended. Or they 
might be derived from some property, law, or peculiarity 
of the element in which such animal lived. Thus a proper 
name was always a distinctive badge of the clan bestow- 
ing it. 

When death left unused any original clan proper name, 
the next child born into the clan, if of the sex to which the 
vacant name belonged, had such vacated name bestowed 
upon it. If no child was born, and a stranger was 
adopted, this name was given to such adopted person. 
This was the unchangeable law, and there was but one 
proviso or exception to it. When a child was born under 
some extraordinary circumstance, or peculiarity, or with 
some distinguishing mark, or a stranger adopted with 
these, the council-women of the clan informed themselves 
of all the facts and devised a name in which all these 
facts were imbedded. This name was made to conform 
to the ancient law governing clan proper names if possi- 
ble, but often this could not be done. These special names 
died with their owners, and were never perpetuated. 

The parents were not permitted to name the child ; the 
clan bestowed the name. Xames were given but once a 

— 3 



u 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



year, and always at the ancient anniversary of the Green 
Corn Feast, Anciently, formal adoptions could be made 
at no other time. The name was bestowed by the clan 
chief. He was a civil officer of both his clan and the 
tribe. At an appointed time in the ceremonies of the 
Green Corn Feast each clan chief took an assigned posi- 
tion, which in ancient times was the Order of Precedence 
and Encampment, and parents having children to be 
named filed before him in the order of the ages of the 
children to be named. The council-women stood by the 
clan chief, and announced to him the name of each^hild 
presented, for all clan proper names were made by the 
council-women. The chief then bestowed the name upon 
the child. This he could do by simply announcing the 
name to the parents, or by taking the child in his arms 
and addressing it by the name selected for it. 

The adoption of a stranger was into some family by 
consent, or at the instance of the principal woman of the 
family. It was not necessary that the adoption be made 
at the Green Corn Feast, The adoption was not consid- 
ered complete, however, until it was ratified by the clan 
chief at the Green Corn Feast, This ratification might 
be accomplished in the simple ceremonial of being pre- 
sented at this time to the clan chief by one of the Sheriffs. 
His clan name was bestowed upon him, and he was wel- 
comed in a few well-chosen words, and the ceremony was 
complete. Or the adoption might be performed with as 
much display, ceremony and pomp as the tribal council 
might, from any cause, decree. The "tribal council con- 
trolled in some degree the matter of adoptions. In an- 
oient times, when many prisoners of war were brought in 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



it determined how many should be tortured and how 
many adopted. 

A man (and perhaps a woman) might have two names, 
sometimes more. He was not prohibited from assuming 
an additional name. The tribal council might order a 
special name bestowed upon. him for distinguished ser- 
vices to the nation. But these were only incidental names, 
and he might be called by them or not as his fellows chose. 
His clan name was his true name, and while he might 
have others, he could not repudiate it nor lay it aside. 
Whatever he was to his tribe, or to others, he was to his 
clan only what his clan name indicated, and he was almost 
always so called. Any additional names he might pos- 
sess died with him ; they were never perpetuated. 

This manner of naming was advantageous. A man 
disclosed his clan in telling his name. The clan was his 
mother; lie was the child of the clan; his name was his 
badge and always a sure means of identification. 

I give a few Wyandot clan proper names. They illus- 
trate the principles involved in naming. 

1. George Wright.— Wolf Clan. Hah-sheh'-trah. 
Means the footprints of the wolf. 

2. Alfred Mudeater. — Porcupine Clan. Keh-h56h'- 
zhah. Means the act of the porcupine in pulling down 
the branches and nipping off the buds and bark. 

3. Mrs. Alfred Mudeater. — Deer Clan. Mehn'-dlh- 
deh'-tih. Means the echo ; the wonderful talker ; what she 
says goes a long way and then comes back again. Eefers 
to .the deer's voice echoing in the night when calling to 
his fellows. 

4. Robert Robitaille. — Bear Clan. Teh-hooh'-kah- 



S6 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



quah'-shrdoh. Means " Bear with four eyes." So named 
because lie wore spectacles when he was adopted. 

5. Charles Lofland. — Snake Clan. Teh'-hooh-mah'- 
yehs. Means " You cannot see him," or " He is invisible." 

6. Mrs. Sarah Dagnett. — Snake Clan. Has two 
names. First, Yah'-ah-tah'-seh. Means "a new body" ; said 
of a snake when it slips off its old skin, as a snake does at 
least once every year. Second, Ooh'-dah-tohn'-teh. Means 
" She has left her village." One of the first (if not the 
very first) names in the list of names for women belong- 
ing to the Snake Clan. See my " Origin of the Snake 
Clan " for the origin and full meaning of this name. 

7. William Walker. — Big Turtle Clan. He was Pro- 
visional Governor of Nebraska (Kansas) Territory. Had 
two names. First, Sehs'-tah-roh. Means "bright," and 
refers to the turtle's eye shining in the water. Second, Hah- 
shah'-rehs. Means " overfull," and refers to a stream 
overflowing its banks at flood. 

8. Mrs. Catherine Johnson. — Deer Clan. Yah- 
rohn'-yah-ah-wih. Means " The deer goes into the sky and 
everywhere." 

9. Allen Johnson, Jr. — Deer Clan. Shrih'-ah-wahs. 
Means " Cannot find deer when he goes hunting." 

The Wyandot supposed that to increase the size of the 
clan to which he belonged he would please the Animal-god 
from which it was descended. He made every effort to 
keep his clan full ; that is, keep the full list of names be- 
longing to it all in use. For this purpose he made war to 
secure women and children for adoption; warriors were 
often captured for adoption. The old Wyandots have 
often told me that their tribe made war on the Cherokees 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE °* 



for the express purpose of securing women and children 
with which to make good the wasting clans. To allow a 
clan to become extinct was sure to call down the displeas- 
ure of the Animal-god for which the clan was named 
and from which it was supposed it was descended. But 
notwithstanding these incentives to keep the clans alive, 
two of them were extinct as much as a century ago, if 
not before that time. Others became extinct about the 
time of the removal to Kansas. The majority of the 
tribe were then civilized and Christianized, and the pagan 
interest in such matters waned and received less attention. 

IIL— RELIGION. 

The gods of the Wyandots were those of the Iroquois 
and the Hurons, but they were stamped with a strong 
Wyandot individuality, and in many respects differed in 
attributes from those of the nations named. The Wyandot 
was more Iroquois than he was Huron-Iroquois, and he 
was but little different from the Seneca. It need surprise 
no one if it is finally determined that the Wyandots were 
the oldest of the Iroquoian family. Their mythology 
makes clear some things left in uncertainty and obscurity 
by that of other tribes of the family. There are some 
things in it that are not found in the myths of any of the 
other tribes. Their myths, too, are clearer cut, more defi- 
nite, and, I believe, more beautiful in form, than those 
of other tribes. The Iroquoian family has been supposed 
to possess little imagination, and a mythology deficient ; n 
beautiful conceptions. This opinion is the result, I be- 
lieve, of an imperfect acquaintance with the folk-lore of 



38 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



this strong and bold people. The myths of the woman 
who fell from heaven, the creation of the great island, the 
birth of the twins, the enlargement of the great island and 
the peopling of it with man and animals, the destruction 
of these and their re-creation, the creation of the sun, moon 
and stars, and many others, are but little inferior in their 
bold originality and beauty of conception to the Greek 
myths. 

The Wyandots gave names of their own to the God of 
the white man, but as it is our intention to omit all Wy- 
andot words as far as possible, these names are not given. 
The conception of the Great Spirit, which has been attrib- 
uted to the Indians, was given them by early missionaries. 
!No Indian tribe ever had such a conception until after 
contact with Europeans. It is certain that no single 
" Supreme Ruler," or " Creator of the Universe," or of 
even the world, or any " Manitou " or " Great Spirit " 
was believed in or conceived of by the ancient Wyandots. 
This is true also of all the North-American Indians. 

They had no conception of a land of punishment after 
death, to which they went if they were wicked here. Such 
a conception as the devil of the white man no Indian 
tribe had until after the missionaries came. They had no 
word that could be used for swearing oaths. They could 
not swear in their own language, but soon acquired a 
choice assortment of profanity from the Christians. 

The gods of the ancient Wyandots were those of the 
Hurons and the Iroquois, but with various differences 
and modifications in names and attributes. They are 
stamped with a strong Wyandot individuality, and it 
need surprise no one if it is finally determined by investi- 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 39 

gation that the Wyandot conceptions are the originals from 
which were derived the ideas of the Hnrons and other 
Iroquoian peoples. 

The legends and myths of the Wyandots hear a closer 
conformity to those of the'Senecas than they do to those 
of the Hurons as recorded by the Jesuits, who were the 
first missionaries to the Huron towns. The traditions of 
the Wyandots indicate long association with the Senecas, 
and a comparatively recent separation from them. 

But the Wyandots believed there was a world above 
this, ruled over by a mighty chief. This chief seems to 
have been immortal. His name might be expressed as 
the Chief above the sky, or the Mighty Kuler. He ruled 
the world above the sky, and was the father of the Woman 
who fell down from heaven. Many supernatural powers 
were attributed to him. Whether or not the belief in his 
supernatural powers is the result of a degeneracy of the 
ancient Wyandot faith from contact with the foreign be- 
lief of a stronger people, it may be impossible to satis- 
factorily determine. But that this belief has existed from 
time immemorial is the claim of the old Wyandots with 
whom I have talked upon the subject; and there is nothing 
to disprove their averment, I may say that it is certain 
that he was regarded as were Eataentsic and Jouskeha 
by the Hurons, as recorded by Le June: 

" This God and Goddess live like themselves, but with- 
out form, make feasts as they do, are lustful as they; iu 
short, they imagine them exactly like themselves. And 
still, though they make them human and corporal, they 
seem nevertheless to attribute to them certain immensity 
in all places." 



40 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Even if in the ancient Wyandot mind he always pos- 
sessed these powers, he did not conform to our idea -of 
what the Wyandot is supposed to understand or wish to 
express by the term " Great Spirit," He ruled only as 
the " Head Chief." He had a family; and when any 
member of it was sick he called the medicine man, as w T e 
poorly translate the term. In fact, aside from his sup- 
posed magical powers, he was there in that land only 
what a mighty chief is here in this world. And I have 
been able to discover little evidence that he ever interested 
himself in the affairs of this lower world or its people. 
I have found none at all that he exercised any power or 
influence whatever upon the souls of people after their 
death and departure from this world. I cannot say that 
he was never supposed to possess such power ; such power 
may have been attributed to him; but I have found no 
evidences of it. And, in truth, I have not been able to 
discover that it was held that his land w r as in any way 
different from what we find this lower world at this time, 
so far as physical phenomena may indicate. 

This chief was, in a sense, the progenitor of the people 
of our world as known to the ancient Wyandots. But 
these people were " created " by his grandsons, the Twins, 
the sons of his daughter, the Woman who fell from heaven. 
By all that I have heard, he was surpassed in power by 
these grandsons, the Twins, and especially in matters 
pertaining to this world. 

THE GOD OF NATURE. 

The Wyandots had a God of the Forest and all Nature. 
His name means " The Great One of the Water and the 



WYANDOT FOLK-LOBE 41 

Land." He was the deification of the mythical Tseh'-stah, 
the Good One of the Twins born of the Woman who fell 
from heaven. His name is only a variation of the name 
of Tseh'-stah, with the attribute of greatness added. 

The Wyandot God of ^Nature was the Jonskeha of the 
Hnrons. The Wyandot and Huron accounts of his birth 
differ. Parkman identifies him with the Sun. The Wj - 
andots explain the creation of the sun by a different myth. 
They say the sun was made by the Little Turtle, at the in- 
stance of the Animals in Council assembled. But the God 
of Nature, notwithstanding, was the most important God of 
the Wyandot Mythology. He made the corn, tobacco, beans 
and pumpkins grow; he provided fish and game for the 
people. I find, however, no evidence anywhere that the 
Wyandots worshipped him at any time, or at any period 
of their history. His place of abode was not definitely 
fixed by them, although he was supposed to 'live somewhere 
in the East. They thought that he often manifested him- 
self to them, being seen in the forests, fields, lakes and 
streams. If tke stalk of corn seen in his hand was full- 
eared, well-grown, and perfectly grained, a bountiful har- 
vest was indicated ; but if it was blasted and withered, no 
corn was to be expected, and famine was imminent. If he 
carried in his hand the bare bone of fish or game, it was 
certain that none of either could be taken or killed for a 
season. If, pale and gaunt, he entered any village gnaw- 
ing the shrunken, withered limb of human being, he 
thereby foretold famine so dire that many Wyandots must 
perish from hunger and plague before it was stayed. But I 
could not learn that it was ever supposed or held that he 



42 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



caused, or that he could prevent, the visitation' of the im- 
pending catastrophe. 

THE WAR GOD. 

The ancient Wyandots had a War God. The only trans- 
lation of this name that I could ever get is, 

" Warrior not afraid," or 

" Warrior not afraid of Battle." 

He was a deit}^ of much consequence to the Wyandots, 
hut I have heen unable to learn from them anything what- 
ever in relation to his origin. If he had not heen pre- 
viously offended, victory was sure to rest with the Wyan- 
dots, regardless of the stress to Avhich they had been 
pushed by any of the adverse circumstances of battle; 
but if offense had been offered him, no victory, but defeal 
only, could be had until a propitiation had been made. 
I found nothing to signify that he ever required, as a 
propitiation, human sacrifice, under even the most extreme 
provocation, although the Wyandots undoubtedly tortured 
prisoners of war in ancient times. Writers accord the Wy- 
andots the highest place for bravery in battle. They were 
also exceptionally humane in their treatment of captives, 
the leading families in numbers and influence in the 
tribe since Wayne's victory being those founded by white 
prisoners that were adopted by them. It is possible that 
they were influenced in both instances by their faith in 
their God of War. 

There is nothing in the name of this War God to identify 
him with Areskoui, the War God of the Hurons, although 
it is very probable that they are identical. It is said that 
he has been identified with the sun, and he is, perhaps, to 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE *" 

be regarded as the God of Nature under different attri- 
butes. 

THE GOD OF DREAMS. 

The Wyandot had a God of Dreams. The name signi- 
fies 

" The Kevealer," or 
" He makes the Vision," or 
" He makes the Dream." 

He was supposed to have something to do with the 
supernatural influences that acted upon this life, and he 
revealed the effects of these influences to the Wyandots in 
dreams. All visions and dreams came from him, for he 
had control of the souls of the Wyandots while they slept 
or were unconscious from injury or from disease. The 
medicine man could detach his soul from his body and 
send it to the God of Dreams for information at any time, 
and during its absence he was in a trance-like condition. 
As all dreams and visions were considered direct revela- 
tions from the Dream God, they were regarded as of the 
very highest significance and of the first importance. No 
God of the Wyandots was held in higher esteem— no other 
exerted so great an influence directly upon their social 
institutions as the God of Dreams. Even to this day the 
Wyandots attach supreme significance to their dreams. 

Under the name of Tarenyowagon or Teharonhiawagon 
this God was recognized by the Iroquois proper, or Five 
Nations. I find no account of any god of this name among 
the Hurons, although from the known importance which 
they attached to dreams he was probably a Huron God 
also, but with some different name from that given him 
by either the Wyandots or the Iroquois. 



±± TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

THE THUNDER GOD. 

« Heh'-noh was the Thunder God of the Wyandots. By 
some accounts he came into the world with the Woman who 
fell from heaven. The thunder is only the voice of this God, 
and it is called heh'-noh. Heh'-noh was a God much in 
esteem with the Wyandots; he was always rendering 
them some service or showing them some favor — fighting 
for them — slaying some monster — or sending rain. He 
liked to dwell about the streams and lakes, and especially 
about the cataracts or waterfalls which " had a loud voice," 
i. e., which made a continuous and deafening roar. He 
lived for ages in the caverns behind Niagara Falls. When 
lie left that place he is supposed to have gone to some un- 
known point in the far Northwest to seek a permanent 
home. For this reason the West Wind is defied by the 
Wyandots; they believed it was sent them by Heh'-noh 
directly from his dwelling-place; and that he rode in the 
thunder-heads which it wafted along the sky. 

The Wyandots relate the same legend of the residence of 
Heh'-n5h at Niagara Falls that is told by the Senecas. 
The variation is very slight, really little more than would 
be made by different members of the tribe of Senecas. 

THE ANIMALS. 

The Wyandot mythology endowed the ancient Animals 
with great power of the supernatural order. This is es- 
pecially true of those Animals used by them as totems or 
clan insignia, and from whom they were anciently de- 
scended. Of the Animals, the Big Turtle stands in first 
place. He caused the Great Island (North America) to 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 45 

grow on his back, for a resting-place and home for the 
Woman who fell down from heaven. He is supposed to 
carry the Great Island on his back to this day. 

The Little Turtle is second in rank and importance in 
the list of Animals. By order of the Council of these 
Animals he made the Sim; he made the Moon to be the 
Sim's wife. He made all the fixed stars; but the stars 
which " run about the sky " are supposed to be the chil- 
dren of the Sun and Moon. The Sun, Moon and Stars 
were made for the comfort and convenience of the Woman 
who fell from heaven. To do this it was necessary for 
the Little Turtle to go up to the sky, and this difficult mat- 
ter was accomplished by the aid of the Thunder God. The 
Deer was the second Animal to get into the sky; this he 
did by and with the assistance of the Rainbow. And after- 
ward all the other totemic Animals except the Mud Turtle 
went up to the sky by the same way, and they are supposed 
to be living there to this present time. The Mud Turtle is 
appointed to rule over the land of the Little People, in the 
interior of the earth. The Animals seem to have governed 
the world before the Woman fell from heaven, and for 
some time after that important event. Among the Ani- 
mals mentioned by the Wyandots as living here before the 
Woman's advent are the Big Turtle, the Little Turtle, the 
Toad, the two Swans, the Otter, the Beaver, the Snake, 
the Bear, the Wolf, the Hawk, the Deer, the Porcupine, 
the Muskrat, and many others. Where and how the land 
animals lived when all was covered with water is not ex- 
plained. In the ancient mythology these land animals 
may have been absent or wanting until after the creation 



46 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



of the Great Island, but I heard them spoken of as con- 
temporaneous with the Turtles, the Toad, and the Swans. 

THE WOMAN THAT FELL FROM HEAVEN. 

The Woman that fell from heaven is an important per- 
sonage in the Wyandot mythology. ISTo supernatural 
powers were attributed to her while on earth by any legend 
I ever heard from the Wyandots. She has no name, that I 
have been able to discover. 

As to the cause of her falling into this lower world, the 
Wyandot myth leaves it to be inferred that it was purely 
an unfortunate and unexpected event of accidental nature 
— unfortunate for her father, who thereby lost a daughter, 
but very fortunate for the Wyandots and all after-dwellers 
in this lower world. The Animals devised the Great Isl- 
and and the lights in the sky for her convenience and com- 
fort. After the birth of the Twins nothing more is heard 
directly of her in connection with this world. But that 
she remained here is to be inferred, for in the great Yooh'- 
wah-tah'-yoh she had charge of the Wyandots while her 
son went forth to re-create the works of the world. She 
was directed by her father what to call the Twins, and the 
myth leaves the inference that she brought them up, but I 
was never able to get any positive statement to that effect. 
She is again unlike the Huron Eataentsic in having noth- 
ing to do with the destinies of the world and its inhabit- 
ants. The Wyandot mythology ignores the mother of the 
" creator " of the Wyandots, after the birth of the Twins, 
so far as this life is concerned. This might be explained 
by contending that the myth as heard at this day is incom- 
plete and fragmentary. This may be, but I think it more 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



47 



probable that after the birth of the Twins, no further con- 
sideration in this life was accorded the Woman that fell 
from heaven. She was assigned a station in the great under- 
ground city or Ydoh'-wiih-tah'-ydh, to assist the souls of all 
dead Wyandots on their way to the land of the Little 
People. 

On the Great Island this Woman that fell down from 
heaven found living an old woman who took her to live 
with her in her lodge, and whom she called Shooh'-tah'-ah, 
i. e., her Grandmother. Her sole office seems to have been 
to furnish a home to the Woman that fell from heaven — 
a lodge, a home. 

THE TWINS. 

Their names were bestowed by direction of their Grand- 
father, the Mighty Ruler. One was Good, the other Evil. 1 
The Good One was called by the name which means " Man 
made of fire." The Bad One was called by a name which 
means " Man made of Flint." These names are too long 
and unpronounceable to be written in a work of this char- 
acter. In their stead we shall use the Wyandot words for 
" fire " and " flint " for these names. This makes the 
name of the Good One Tseh'-stah, and the name of the Bad 
One Tah'-weh-skah'-reh. These words are not the Wyandot 
names, but are used in this work for them. 

The ancient Wyandots ascribed the world as modified 
for their use, to the supernatural powers and efforts of 

^he terms "good " and " bad " as applied to these brothers do not express moral 
good and evil as we understand these principles. It might be said that they more 
properly express the Ideas, Friend and Enemy. A moral good and evil might have 
developed from these ideas. They embraced the fundamental Ideas of such, and con- 
tained the germs of a moral good and evil. 



48 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



these Brothers, the Twins. Brintou says, " In effect h 
myth of creation is nowhere found among primitive na- 
tions." The Wyandot mythology does not begin until 
there is something to begin with, and so far as the creation 
of the w r orld is concerned no attempt is made to account 
for it in the condition we first see it when the Swans were 
swimming about in the Great Water. The Great Island 
was made by the Big Turtle, of earth that fell down from 
heaven with the Woman, and the myth says that it was 
enlarged by the brothers, and that they " created " the peo- 
ple^ — Indians found upon it. In this matter of the creation 
of peoples, perhaps the greater number of accounts say 
that the brothers brought them from the land of their 
Grandfather. But the Wyandot begins with the fall of 
the Woman from heaven, the world above ours, down to 
this. There existed two worlds, then, when he begins, — 
the one we now inhabit, and heaven. Heaven is, of course, 
not a Wyandot term. This old Wyandot word means 
" The world beyond the sky," and has always meant just 
that, but the Christian has taken it to represent his heaven. 
In this sense the ancient Wyandot did not use it. To him 
it did not represent a country in which he was to sojourn 
after death, in a state of bliss, if he was a good Indian 
here. In his belief this upper world was then precisely 
what the Great Island was before the coming of the white 
man, except that it was peopled with Wyandots only. The 
lower world was a watery waste, so far as Wyandot knowl- 
edge extends. If we can believe Morgan, the same thing 
can be affirmed of the Senecas. There was no sun, no 
moon, no stars. But the animals dwelt here. Cusick gives 
the same account for the Tnscaroras. What was accom- 



WYANDOT FOLK-LOKE 



49 



plished in the way of world creation was some wonderful 
things performed with material found already at hand. 

As to the final fate of the brothers, accounts differ. In 
some the Bad One was slain by the Good One during the 
war between them and the people they had created, under 
their respective leaderships. Some forms of the story 
have it that he was banished to some other world. That 
he was slain in a battle with his brother (and by his 
brother in single combat) is perhaps the most ancient and 
correct belief. The Good One is supposed to dwell yet 
at some unknown place in the far East, on the shores of 
the Great Water. 

The Wyandot account of the enlargement of the Great 
Island, the creation of men and animals, their destruction 
and re-creation, is one of the strangest conceptions of the 
human mind. The myth is orderly in arrangement, clear- 
cut, strong. It bears the impress of vigorous intellect, 
and strong national individuality. It is the effort of the 
untutored savage to account for the world in which he 
finds himself placed. In the light of modern learning it 
is absurd and grotesque, but when the circumstances under 
which it was conceived are considered, it becomes a produc- 
tion of remarkable strength and beauty. 

THE LITTLE PEOPLE. 

The Little People occupy an important place in Wy- 
andot mythology. Their name signifies " The Twins." 
This name seems to have been given them for several 
reasons. First, they were the only people made by Tseh- 
stah, except the Wyandots, and for this reason the Wyan- 

— 4 



50 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

(lots called them a Twin People to themselves. Second, 
they were created in pairs; and they were born in pairs, 
or twins, only. They never operated singly in the accom- 
plishment of any enterprise; and only in very rare in- 
stances were more than two of them required for the 
performance of any task or purpose, however great 01 
severe. Two of them expelled the Witch Buffaloes from 
the Big Bone Licks in Kentucky. The Wyandots claim 
that the footsteps of these two of the Little People thai 
expelled these Witch Buffaloes, and also the impressions 
left by them when and where they crouched down, can be 
yet plainly seen in the huge masses of stone all over that 
part of Kentucky in the vicinity of these Licks. The 
Rev. Smith Nichols, a Quaker preacher, a Wyandot, and 
Chief of the Deer Clan, also hereditary chief of the 
Wyandot tribe, a man of sterling integrity and great worth, 
living now in the Seneca country, Indian Territory, in- 
forms me that he has not only seen these footsteps and 
body-prints, but also the imprints of the little bows and 
arrows of the Little People in the solid rock in Ohio, Ken- 
tucky, and the Indian Territory. lie implicitly believes 
that he has. 

Tseh'-stah created the Little People to aid him and the 
Wyandots to overcome Tah'-weh-skah'-reh and his people 
in the war in which the first creation was destroyed. They 
were of very diminutive size, but they possessed marvelous 
supernatural powers. They lived (and they are supposed 
to live yet) in stone caves in the bowels of the earth; but 
in these caves are forests, streams, game, night and day, 
heat and cold, as on the surface of the earth. These Little 
People are represented as living precisely as the ancient 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 51 

Wyandots lived, and as having the laws, customs, social 
organization, political and religious institutions of the 
ancient Wyandots, and these it is their task, duty and 
pleasure to preserve in all their primeval purity for the 
Wyandots to have and to use in this land, to which they 
will go after death. The Little People were regarded as 
the guardians of the Wyandots both in this world and in 
the world to come. They were supposed by the Wyandots 
to be constantly fighting the Flying Heads, the monster 
bears, snakes and other animals of great size that plagued 
them. They have the power to enter and pass through 
solid rock, and they always pass through the " living rock " 
in returning to their subterranean home; and this home 
is pictured as one of ideal beauty, according to the Indian 
standard, but no one in all the realms of Indian imagina- 
tion, natural or supernatural, ever has or ever can see this 
beautiful country except the Little People, until after 
death, when it is to be also the abode of the Wyandots. 
It is ruled now by the Mud Turtle who made it, but at 
the end of time the Woman who fell from heaven is to 
take charge of it as ruler. 

the hooh'-keh. 

The hooh'-keh was the " medicine man" of the Wyan- 
dots, and the ooh'-keh was the " medicine woman." The 
term " medicine " is, in my opinion, a poor one for the 
Wyandot expression for which it is used. It seems, how- 
ever, to be accepted generally, and no better word seems 
available. The terms hooh'-keh and ooh'-keh are not, in 
the Wyandot, restricted to men and women. Anything 
supposed to possess any supernatural power, or to exert 



52 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



any supernatural influence, was anciently denominated by 
one of these terms. The office of the " medicine man " 
was practically the same in the different tribes of the 
Iroquoian family. Their functions have been so often de- 
scribed that it is unnecessary to repeat them here. 



THE MYTHS 






I.— SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 

The myths are written as I heard them from the old 
Wyandots. The accounts of some of them differed from 
the versions of others who repeated these ancient beliefs 
to me. Some could repeat only the vague and confused 
outlines of a" myth; others could repeat the whole of it, 
together with many modern additions, modifications and 
corruptions. I have heard the merest allusion to a myth 
and then been unable to obtain anything more about it for 
weeks, sometimes months, and in the case of the Stone 
Giants it was more than a year from the time I first heard 
the story outlined until I could get anything like a satisfac- 
tory version of it. I sought every opportunity to hear 
these myths, and became so familiar with them that I 
could repeat them to the Wyandots better (as they said) . 
than any of them could relate them themselves. I have 
tried to write out simple statements of the oldest versions 
that I could hear. After studying well and for years the 
different versions that I could hear of a myth, and reject- 
ing known interpolations, additions and distortions, and 
supplying from one account what another lacked, I have 
told the story as I could see it should be and as I felt that 

(53) 



u 



TWENTIETH CENT UK Y CLASSICS 



it anciently had been. And I have had old Wyandots, 
after hearing me relate these legends, say with much de- 
light and great satisfaction, " Why, yon are more Wyandot 
than we are." " That story yon told like my grand- 
father told it." " I seemed to hear the words of the old 
people while you were talking." " My grandmother told 
that story in the same wa}^ when I was a child." Or, 
" We had forgotten the old stories, and now a white man 
comes and restores them to us." These and many other 
expressions of approval I often heard from the old Wy- 
andots in my relation of these myths. 

Among the Wyandot people who have been particularly 
helpful to me in gathering up the fragments of their folk- 
lore that remain are the following: 

GEORGE WEIGHT. 

The first place belongs to George Wright. He was a 
most remarkable man. He had a most remarkable history, 
too, and at the risk of being tedious I will give here a 
brief outline of it. 

He was a Wyandot only by adoption. His clan was 
that of the Wolf. His name was Hah-sheh'-trah, and 
means " The footprint of the Wolf." By blood he was a 
St. Regis Seneca, his father having been one-half St. Regis 
Seneca and one-half French. His mother was one-half 
Delaware and one-half negro. 

His grandmother was captured in Guinea, Africa. She 
and other children were playing about the outskirts of a 
negro village; suddenly they heard the alarm which de- 
noted the presence of slave-stealers. The children fled, but 
this little girl was unable to hold way with the larger ones ; 



WYANDOT FOLK-LOBE 55 

she was about six years old, and very small of her age. 
She was captured by the pursuers, who proved to be a party 
of French slavers. They carried her to the Martinique 
Islands, Avhere they kept her for some time; here there 
were many other negroes, of all ages and both sexes, torn 
from their homes as she had been. After some time she 
was taken aboard a ship, which was loaded with her 
people. The vessel stood out to sea; none of the negroes 
had any idea of their ultimate destination. When the 
ship had been at sea a few days it was attacked by the 
English, and captured. The crew of the French ship were 
put to the sword ; the negroes were carried to America. 
At Philadelphia Wright's grandmother was sold to a 
Delaware Indian. She was both slave and wife to the 
Delaware. Wright's mother was born to her Avhile she 
Avas the wife and chattel of this Indian. Sometime during 
the War of the Revolution this Delaware sold his slave- 
wife and her daughter to the Rohn'-tolm-deh (or War- 
pole) of the Wyandots; they were adopted by the Wy- 
andots. Soon after the adoption the daughter was married 
to the St. Regis Seneca, Wright's father. Wright remem- 
bered his grandmother well; he often heard her tell the 
story of her life. 

Wright was born at Upper Sandusky, March 20, 1812. 
He j>tcw t<> manhood there and in Canada. He was small 
of stature, had long straight hair but slightly gray, and a 
long straight beard a little more gray than his hair. He 
had a fine face with clean-cut and regular features, with 
much the appearance of that of a Hindoo sage. He had 
none of the marks of the negro, but possessed the negro's 
love of music and delighted to play on his violin, an in- 



56 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



strument which he had owned for more than fifty years. 
He died January 31, 1899, of pneumonia. Until within 
a month of his death he had always enjoyed the best of 
health, but had been almost blind for a number of years. 

He entered the Indian service under Gen. Lewis Cass, 
at the age of twenty. His ability made him a valuable 
man, and he was the best interpreter ever in the service 
of Gen. Cass, as evidenced by a written statement which the 
General gave him, and which he treasured for many years. 
His knowledge of the Indian character made him of great 
value to the Indian service. His intelligence was of a 
high order, and he was possessed of some education ac- 
quired by his own efforts, and was an extensive reader. 
He has told me that he was never under the influence of 
intoxicating liquors in his life. 

In 1850 he came to the Wyandots in Kansas. In 185*5 
his house was accidentally burned, and seeing that the 
Wyandots would soon have to give up their lands, he went 
to the Senecas in the Indian Territory, and settled on 
Sycamore creek, immediately below the Yankee-Bill 
Prairie, where he lived until his death. This part of the 
Seneca Reservation was afterwards sold to the Wyandots, 
who re-adopted him into their tribe, and he was given an 
allotment of 160 acres, which included his home and im- 
provements. Here he re-entered the Indian service, and 
was the official interpreter at the Quapaw Agency for six- 
teen years. He spoke perfect Wyandot, Seneca, Cayuga, 
Delaware, and Shawnee. His English was good, almost 
perfect. His discourse was logical, his ideas clear-cut and 
well defined, orderly, and well arranged. 

I often visited him at his home. He was the best in- 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 57 

formed person in the manners, customs, social organi- 
zation, political and religious institutions of the ancient 
Wyandots, Senecas, Delawares, and Shawnees that I ever 
met or became acquainted with. Most of the myths of the 
Wyandots which I have preserved I obtained from him, 
and the help he gave me enabled me to make some orderly 
arrangement of material which I had obtained in so con- 
fused form as to be worthless to me. Most that I have 
written on these subjects bears the impress of his mind. 
Some of the myths are his in entirety. He gave me ver- 
sions of all of them. 

On the day of his death he called to his bedside his 
aged wife, and said to her, " I must leave you soon." 
Then he carefully smoothed and arranged his long hair 
and beard, crossed his hands upon his breast, and died as 
peacefully as an infant sleeps. 

His sister, Sarah Clark, was born in 1806. She is still 
living, and is in good health. I have met her often at his 
house. She sews and does other housework without the aid 
of glasses. She does not look so much like an Indian as 
did Wright, but shows the negro blood plainly. 

Wright was well acquainted with Captain Bull-Head, 
both in Ohio and Kansas, and gave him credit for being the 
best informed man in the old songs, traditions and folk-lore 
of the Wyandots that lived in his generation. He often 
quoted Bull-Head as infallible authority. Through him I 
heard the version of these myths as recited by Captain 
Bull-Head. And this brings me to some remarks concern- 
ing this most peculiar man. 



58 . TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

CAPTAIN BULL-HEAD. 

Captain Bull-Head was the purest in blood of any Wy- 
andot that came West from Ohio. He was a genuine In- 
dian in all his ways and inclinations. He died in 
Wyandotte county, Kansas, about the year 1860. I have 
made many inquiries concerning his character and mental 
inclinations, believing that if I could get a full knowledge 
and a fair comprehension of these I would be in possession 
of the characteristics of the ancient Wyandot mind as 
fully as was possible in my day and generation. I have 
believed that to write intelligently of the ancient beliefs 
of the Wyandots one should enter into the spirit of the 
ancient people of that tribe as much as is possible for 
one of a different race and environment. 

The Captain lived in a house near that of Matthew 
Brown. This was in a portion of the Wyandot Purchase 
where those of purest Indian blood settled. The people 
in this part of the Purchase had little to do with the more 
progressive portion of the tribe. They gathered them- 
selves together to perform the ancient rites of their 
fathers. Indian drums, turtle rattles, gourd rattles, the 
mortar and pestle for grinding corn, the bark boxes for 
storing hominy for winter use, the tomahawk, the wampum 
belt, and all other thing valued by the Indian, were to 
be found here in constant use. 

The ancient Wyandot was as sensitive to the various 
languages of nature as is the highly charged plate of the 
photographer to the rays of light. The beautiful lines of 
Bryant apply to the character of the ancient Wyandot : 



WYAttDOT FOLK-LOBE 59 

" To him who in the love of Nature holds 
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
A various language." 

Captain Bull-Head was never at a loss for good com- 
pany. The sky, the clouds, the wind, rain, snow, ice, the 
trees, leaves, flowers, the grass under his feet were all 
books in which he delighted to read as a child delights in 
Jack the Giant-Killer. He carried on communion and 
even conversation with the birds, his chickens, pigs, the 
wolf, fox, and, indeed, with all Nature, animate or inani- 
mate. And I have often observed this same trait in the 
present generation of Wyandots, and, too, in Shawnees, 
Delawares, and Cherokees. At the sound of any bird or 
animal, Captain Bull-Head made instant reply. These 
songs or cries often resemble some sentence of the Wyandot 
language. He considered himself addressed, and took up 
the conversation at once — much more readily than if he 
had been addressed by man. 

One day in winter the Captain went out to get some 
wood. His chickens w T ere standing close together under 
some shrubs, to avoid the wind. When the Captain came 
out the rooster flapped his wings and crowed: " Tah-shah'- 
tah-doohf'-stah." Xow the Captain was dressed in true 
Indian style, with blanket and leggings of buckskin. This 
sentence supposed by him to have been used by the rooster 
means " Your legs are cold." He was highly insulted at 
what, he imagined the rooster to have said to him, for it 
must be remembered the ancient Wyandots endowed all 
animals with reason, and he believed the rooster was ridi- 
culing him because his thighs were bare. 

" Yooh-aht' ! ! ! " exclaimed the ( laptain, in a towering 



60 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



passion. " Yooh-aht' ! ! ! Sdh-mah'-ah tah-shah'-tah-doohf '- 
stah ! " "Away ! It is your legs that are cold ; ray legs 
are not cold ; I have been by the fire ! " But the Captain 
covered his thighs with his blanket and hurried away from 
the vicinity of the impudent rooster. 

At another time the Captain was passing along the road 
with something in a bag which he had slung across his 
shoulder. A haughty rooster flew to the top of the fence, 
flapped his wings and crowed saucily. The Captain be- 
lieved he said : " Quah'-zhah-tschooh'-teh-quah." This 
means " You are a peddler/' or " a man who carries a bur- 
den on his back." The Captain did not doubt for a 
moment that the rooster meant to taunt him for turning 
peddler, than which no higher insult could have been 
given Captain Bull-Head. He immediately replied, hi 
great heat : " Yooh-aht' ! Sdh-mah'-ah quah'-zhah- 
tschodh'-teh-quah ! ! " " No ! Away with you ! I am not 
a peddler ! " 

The little valley in the mouth of which the town of 
Pomeroy, Wyandotte county, Kansas, stands, was called 
by the Wyandots, Queh'-sah-yohn'-dah, which means " The 
place where the nettles grow." The Captain had friends 
living there, and his first visit in the spring was to this 
little valley. One warm day in the spring as he sat in the 
sun in his cabin door, his favorite rooster came near him 
and crowed, and the Captain believed he said: " Queh'- 
sah-yohn'-dah." In great delight the Captain cried : 
" Hehn'-deh'-ah-telmg-dah'-tah-rah queh'-sah-yohn'-dah." 
"Ah, yes! You and I will go there to visit soon," or 
"Ah, yes ! You and I will soon go there to break bread." 

One class of the songs of the ancient Wyandots consisted 



/»1 
WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



of imaginary conversations with the various animals with 
which they were familiar. These songs could be sung 
by two persons, or more. Captain Bull-Head and William 
Big-Town were famous singers of the old Wyandot songs, 
and also the old pagan songs in which their history and 
mythology were wrapped for preservation. With these 
two men died these ancient songs of the pagan Wyandots. 
I have gathered the import of some of these mythologic 
songs as sung by these two men through persons who 
were intimately acquainted with them— George Wright, 
Matthias Splitlog and his wife, Eldredge H. Brown, and 
others. Mr. Brown has given me an account of the man- 
ner of their singing, which I shall attempt here to relate. 
He heard these songs at the house of Captain Bull-Head, 
for the Captain possessed the musical instruments neces- 
sary for accompaniment. When Big-Tow came in sight 
along the path leading to Bull-Head's home, immediate 
preparations were made for his reception. A couch was 
made ready, and when he arrived he was made to lie down, 
" for," said the Captain, " you must be tired out with so 
long a walk. Lie here and rest your lungs, your back, 
your legs. And eat of this meat and drink of this water. 
Do this and refresh yourself." 

While Big-Town rested and refreshed himself, the Cap- 
tain was engaged in putting his drums and rattles in 
proper condition for immediate use. When only the two 
men sang, a little drum the size of a quart measure was 
used; and the rattle was one made of a small terrapin, or 
land turtle. If more than the two men were to sing, a 
larger drum and a larger rattle were used. 

When Big-Town ban sufficiently rested himself, he wn< 



62 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



given the rattle. This instrument he used as a singing- 
master uses a tuning-fork. He rattled it close to his ear, 
and when the proper pitch had been ascertained the song 
was commenced. The songs were almost all arranged for 
one person or one party to sing, and then to be responded 
to by the other person or the other party. Big-Town 
usually commenced the song ; when he had sung a part the 
response was taken up by the Captain. Big-Town accom- 
panied his part with the rattle and the Captain his with 
the drum. All the mythological tales and legends were 
thus arranged to be sung, and also all the traditional 
history of the tribe, as was much of the clan achievement 
in battle. Mention has been made of songs concerning 
animals. Eldredge H. Brown can remember that one of 
their songs commenced " Tah-weh'-deh, tah-weh'-deh-keh- 
heh'," which is " Hey, the old Otter! His time is past," 
They spent hours, sometimes days, even weeks, in 
singing these ancient songs. As stated in another place, 
the only traditional stories and myths preserved are the 
import but not the language of these old songs. What a 
loss to science was their loss ! 



MATTHIAS SPEITLOG. 



Matthias Split-log was the famous " millionaire Indian." 
His father was a Cayuga-Seneca — his mother a Wyandot. 
He married Eliza Barnett, a very intelligent Wyandot 
woman of one of the best families in the tribe. She never 
learned to speak English, and was one of the few Wyandots 
that I have known that could not speak enough English 
to carry on conversation in it. 

In the year 1882 I was Deputy Coimtj Clerk of Wyan- 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 63 

dotte county, Kansas, and it was my good fortune to be 
able to do official justice to Mr. Splitlog, and thereby 
prevent the Missouri Pacific Railway Company from ac- 
quiring the land now occupied by that corporation for 
round-houses and switching purposes, and known as the 
" Cypress Yards," for about one-tenth of its value. This 
favor Mr. Splitlog never forgot; he appreciated it as long 
as he lived. From that day until his death, fourteen 
years later, he was my true and tried friend. Both he 
and his wife were well informed in all the myths, legends, 
and traditions of the Wyandots. They have related these 
to me by the hour. Mr. Splitlog was also well informed 
in the Seneca myths and legends, and he was always careful 
to explain to me the difference between the Wyandot and 
Seneca versions. 

HIRAM M. NORTHRUP. 

The late Hiram M. Xorthrup, the millionaire banker, 
of Kansas City, Kansas, married a Wyandot woman, 
Miss Margaret Clarke, the grand-daughter of Chief Adam 
Brown. Miss Clarke could speak no English until after 
her marriage. She knew many of the myths and legends 
of the Wyandots, but it was seldom that she would relate 
any of them. Mr. Xorthrup was particularly anxious 
that they should be preserved, and at his urgent solicita- 
tion Mrs. Xorthrup sometimes went over some of them 
with me. But it was in a different way that they were 
helpful to me in this work. They sought out old Wyandots 
and brought them to their home for the purpose of having 
them relate to me the myths and traditions. T have every 



64 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



reason to be very grateful to them for their assistance in 
the collection of these legends. 

MRS. LUCY B. ARMSTRONG. 

She was the daughter of Eev. Eussel Bigelow, one of 
the pioneers of Methodism in Ohio, and for some time in 
charge of the Wyandot Mission at Upper Sandusky. She 
married John Maclntyre Armstrong, a Wyandot of not 
more than one-quarter blood, a man of intelligence, educa- 
tion, and worth. He was a religious enthusiast, and un- 
popular in his tribe, but he was conscientious in his acts. 
He was a local preacher in the Methodist Church for 
many years. He translated many Methodist hymns from 
the English into the Wyandot language ; and some of the 
earliest efforts to reduce the Wyandot tongue to a Written 
form were his, though he accomplished nothing in this 
field that was permanent. His father was a white man 
who had been captured when very young, by the Wyandots, 
on the banks of the Allegheny river. He was adopted into 
the tribe, and grew up an Indian in habit and nature. 
He married Sarah, the daughter of Isaac Zane, and John 
Maclntyre was their second son, and could speak no Eng- 
lish until he learned it at the Mission. 

Erom her husband and from many other Wyandots 
Mrs. Armstrong heard the myths and traditions of the 
Wyandots. She was a widow for forty years and an esti- 
mable woman. She lived in Kansas City, Kansas, and I 
was well acquainted with her for fifteen years. She was 
of some assistance to me in the study of the myths of the 
Wyandots. She always wanted to find some analogy to 
Christianity in the religious legends. 



WYA2SDQT FOLK-LORE 65 

MRS. SARAH DAGNETT. 

Mrs. Sarah Dagnett rendered me much assistance in 
the matter of the Wyandot language in which the myths 
were told. When I could, find no explanation of a Wy- 
andot term anywhere else, I always referred it to her. 
If there was enough remembrance of the term yet remain- 
ing in the tribe to furnish an explanation, she would get 
it for me. She is a Wyandot and a woman of great intelli- 
gence, and has traveled extensively and is well informed. 

ELDREDGE H. BROWN". 

Mr. Brown is a descendant of Chief Adam Brown, and 
a man of much worth and integrity. He is the only 
Wyandot living who understands the old Wyandot lan- 
guage. He has related some myths to me, and has aided 
me in many ways. 

REV. SMITH NICHOLS. 

Mr. Nichols is a minister of the denomination of 
Friends. He is a very conscientious man, and a devout 
Christian. He has been of much service to me in this 
work. 

HON. SILAS ARMSTRONG. 

Mr. Armstrong aided me in many ways in my work. 
He is a man of fine mind, and great force of character. 
He has been employed by the Government for several 
years. 

MR. AND MRS. ALFRED MUDEATER. 

Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Mudeater are well informed Wy- 
andots, and were always anxious to assist me. I am undei 
obligations to them for many favors. 



OO TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

I have here briefly indicated the principal sources from 
which I procured the myths and traditions of the Wyandots 
as they are written herein. I may have misunderstood 
some things. In the recording I may have perverted and 
distorted other things. It would be remarkable if I 
had not erred in some part of the work. Perfection 
is not claimed. But I have industriously sought to pre- 
serve these ancient myths and legends in the interests of 
science. I may add that no other forms of these legends 
and myths can ever be obtained, for, with one exception, 
those pretending to recite any form of them are dead, 
and gone to the Land of the Little People. 



THE STORIES 



I.— THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM HEAVEN". 

The people lived in heaven. They were Wyandots. 
The Head Man's name was the Big Chief, or the Mighty 
Ruler. He had a very beautiful daughter. She became 
sick. The medicine man came. She could not be cured 
by his " medicine." He said, " Dig up the wild apple 
tree; what will cure her she can pluck from among its 
roots." This apple tree stood near the door of the Lodge of 
the Mighty Ruler. 

The medicine man advised that while they were digging 
up the wild apple tree they should bring the young woman 
and lay her down upon the ground under its branches, so 
that she might see down where the men were at work, 1 and 
the more quickly pluck away the " medicine " when it 
should be reached. 

When they had dug there for awhile, the tree and the 
ground all about it suddenly sank down, fell through and 
disappeared. The lap, or tree-top, caught and carried down 
the young woman. Tree and woman disappeared, and the 
rent or broken world, and the rent earth was closed over 
both of them. 

This point where the tree sank down through heaven is 

1 Some versions say women were doing the digging ; others use the word " people." 

(67) 



OS TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

called in the Wyandot mythology, the point of breaking 
through. In some versions of this account it is called the 
" Jumping-off Place " ; for the woman is represented as 
jumping or springing from the sky. The same Wyandot 
term is used, though, in all versions. 

Underneath, in the lower world, was only water — the 
Great Water. Two Swans were swimming about there. 
These Swans saw the young woman falling from heaven. 
Some accounts say that a mighty peal of thunder, the first 
ever heard in these lower regions, broke over the waters, 
and startled all the Swimmers. On looking up, the Swans 1 
beheld the woman standing in the rent heavens, clad in 
flames of bright lightning. She was taller than the highest 
tree. Thus was she accompanied in her fall from heaven 
by Heh'-noh, the Thunder God of the Wyandots. 

One of the Swans said : 

" What shall we do with this Woman ? " 

The other Swan replied : 

" We must receive her on our backs." 

Then they threw their bodies together, side by side, and 
she fell upon them. 

The swan that had first spoken said : 

" What shall we do with this woman ? We cannot for- 
ever bear her up." 

To this question the other Swan replied : 

" We must call a Council of all the Swimmers and all 
the Water Tribes." 

This they did. Each Animal came upon special invi- 

1 The Wyandot word for swan Is used in this place, but the description of the birds 
would seem to Indicate gulls, or geese. They are described as " flat-backed birds," 
half-a-tree tall ; i. e., very large. 



WYANDOT FOLK-LOBE 69 

tation. The Big Turtle came by special invitation to pre- 
side over the Great Council. 

Much discussion was had by the Great Council. But it 
seemed for a long time that the deliberations would be 
fruitless. Xo plan for the disposition of the Woman could 
be agreed upon. When the Great Council was about to 
adjourn without coming to a conclusion, the Big Turtle 
said : 

" If you can get a little of the Earth, which, with the 
Woman and the tree, fell down from heaven, I will hold it." 

So the Animals took it by turns to try to get the Earth. 
They dived down into the deep where the tree had fallen. 
But they could get none of the Earth, which, so the Wyan- 
dots claim, shone with a brilliant light to guide them. Tn 
this search many of the Animals were drowned, and came 
to the surface dead. When it seemed that none of the 
Earth could be obtained, the Toad volunteered to go down 
and try and see what success she might have. 

The Toad was gone a long time. The Great- Council 
•despaired of her coining back again. Finally she came up, 
with her mouth full of the Earth ; but she was dead when 
she reached the surface. 

There was very little of the Earth — too little, it was 
supposed — and the Great Council was discouraged. But 
the Little Turtle urged that it be used. She rubbed it care- 
fully about the edges of the Big Turtle's shell, and from 
this small amount soon there was the Great Island upon 
the Big Turtle's back. 

The Woman was removed from the backs of the Swans 
to the Great Island, which was, from that time, her home. 

The Toad was the only Swimmer that could get the 



70 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



Earth. This is why the Toad has always been called Mah'- 
shdoh-tah'-ah — Our Grandmother — by the Wyandots. The 
Toad is held in reverence by the Wyandots, and none of 
them will harm her, to this day. 

IL— THE GKEAT ISLAND. 

The Island grew to be a Great Land — all of North 
America, which to the Wyandots was all the land of the 
earth. The Wyandot name for the Great Island means, 
literally, " The land which stands up from the Great 
Water " ; but it is correctly rendered " The Great Island." 
It rests yet on the back of the Big Turtle. He stands deep 
aown in the Great Water, in which the Swans were swim- 
ming when they saw the Woman fall from heaven. Some- 
times he becomes weary of remaining so long in one posi- 
tion. Then he shifts his weight and moves (changes) his 
feet. And then the Great Island trembles, and the Wyan- 
dots cry out, " He moves the earth ! He moves the earth ! ?? 

Thus does the Wyandot account for the earthquake. 

III.— THE LITTLE TURTLE IN THE SKY, OR 
THE CREATION OF THE SUN, MOON, AND 
STARS. 

When the Great Island was made on the Big Turtle's 
back there was no sun, and no moon, and no stars. The 
Woman could not see well by the " Snow Light." A Great 
Council was called to see what should be done for a light 
for the Woman. 

After a long time spent in deliberation to no purpose, 



71 

WYANDOT FOLK-LORE « J - 



the Council was about to disperse and let the world con- 
tinue in darkness. And now the Little Turtle said : 

'■< Let me go up to the sky ; I will put a light there for the 

Woman." 

It was agreed that the Little Turtle might go into the 
sky. A great Cloud was called by the Council. The Cloud 
was full of Thunder and Lightning. It rolled over the 
Great Water. When it came where the Council was in 
session, it was seen to be full of bushes, trees, streams, 
lakes and ponds. The Little Turtle got into these streams 
and was soon carried into the sky, which the Wyandots be- 
lieved to be solid, and much like the earth at the present 
time. Here the Little Turtle took some of the Lightning 
and kindled a great flame, which stood still in the sky. But 
it did not light all the Great Island, while in that part of 
it where the Woman lived the heat was intolerable. 

The Sun as made by the Little Turtle was not satisfac- 
tory. Another Council was called. The Little Turtle 
came in the Cloud. At this Council it was determined 
to give the Sun life and a spirit, so that it could " run about 
the sky." The Mud Turtle was directed to dig a hole 
clear through the earth (the Great Island), so that the Sun 
could go through the sky by day, and then, through the hole 
in the earth, back to the east by night. This the Mud 
Turtle successfully did. But it seems that the Sun often 
loitered in this subterranean passage-way, and remained 
there for long periods. The world was left in total dark- 
ness at these times. It was resolved to call a third Great 
Council to deliberate upon the matter, and to chide the Sun. 
To this third Council came the Sun, the Little Turtle, 
and the other Animals. The Council decreed that the 



72 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



Little Turtle should make the Sun a wife, and that she 
should shine while he was going back to the east through 
the subterreanean passage-way made by the Mud Turtle. 
The Little Turtle made the Moon for a wife for the Sun. 
Many children were born to them, and these are the Stars 
that " run about the sky," as the Wyandots call the stars 
that move like the sun and moon. 

After a time the Sun was displeased with his wife, the 
Moon. He drew her into the subterranean passage-way, 
and would have destroyed her there if the Little Turtle 
had not come and rescued her. He robbed her of all her 
heat and much of her light, and so maimed her that she 
could not keep pace with him in the sky. The New Moon 
represents all that was left of the Sun's wife when the Lit- 
tle Turtle rescued her from her husband's wrath. The 
Little Turtle cured her to that degree that she regained 
gradually her original form ; when, -however, she had at- 
tained this, she immediately sickened from grief because 
of her husband's inattention and neglect, and pined away, 
diminishing daily until she altogether disappeared. When 
next seen she was again of the same size and form as when 
rescued by the Little Turtle ; then she increased gradually, 
animated with the hope that when she had reached her 
former fullness she could recover her husband's favor. 
Failing in this, she again wasted away ; and this has been 
repeated over and over to this day ; and it always will be 
until the end of time. To assist her in lighting the earth 
at night the Little Turtle made many lights and fastened 
them to the sky; these are the fixed stars that have no 
course, and which do not " run about the sky." Sometimes 



WYA N DOT FOLK-LOKK 



73 



they fall off the sky ; thus does the Wyandot account' for 
the meteors or " shooting stars." 

From her labors in the heavens and the important func- 
tions which the Little Turtle exercised, she was called 
Wah-trolm'-yoh-noh'-neh, " The Keeper of the Heavens/' 
or " She who takes care of the Sky." This is still a name 
for women in the Little Turtle Clan of the Wyandots, and 
perhaps the oldest name belonging to this Clan. Mrs. 
Nancy Stannard, on the Wyandot Reservation, Indian Ter- 
ritory, is of the Little Turtle Clan, and is so named. 

The Wyandots believe the comet is the cloud in which 
the Little Turtle went up to the sky, burnished and bright- 
ened by the Little Turtle with rays taken from the mid- 
day sun." In this she rides through the heavens to perform 
her duties. About 1882 there was a large comet, visible in 
Kansas City, Kansas. It could be seen only in the early 
morning. On my way to my office very early one morning, 
late in the fall, I met Matthias Split-log. From where we 
stood we had a splendid view of the comet. " See ! " said 
Mr. Splitlog, " there is the chariot of our Grandmother, 
the Little Turtle." Then he told me why it was so called. 

IV.— THE TWINS BORN. 

The Great Island was the Woman's home. It was not 
then so large as it afterwards was made. The Woman 
went all about the Great Island. She was very sad. But 
in her wanderings she found a Lodge, and, living in it, an 
old woman. She called the old woman Sho6h"-tah'-ah — 
" her Grandmother." In the Wyandot mythology the point 
where the Lodge of the old woman stood is called by a Wv- 



74 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



andot word which means " The place where the Woman 
that fell from heaven met (or found) her Grandmother.*' 
The Woman lived with her Grandmother. She is well 
now, her sickness having disappeared. To her were born 
the Two Children— The Brothers— The Twins. Of these 
Children, one was Good — the other Bad. Their Grand- 
father, the Mighty Ruler, directed how the Twins should 
be named. The Good One was named Tseh'-stah — i. e., 
Made of Fire, or the Man who was made of Fire. The Bad 
One was named Tah'-weh-skah'-reh — -i. e.. Made of Flint, 
or The Man who was made of Flint. 

V.— THE GREAT ISLAND ENLARGED. 

The Twins grew to manhood after awhile. Tah'-weh- 
skah'-reh did evil continually. Tseh'-stah was unwilling to 
resist his brother continuously, although when he chose to 
do so he could overcome him. That all cause for the ac- 
tions of Tah'-weh-skah'-reh might be removed, the brothers 
agreed to enlarge the Great Island. They successfully did 
this. The land in the East was the land of Tseh'-stah ; that 
in the West belonged to Tah'-weh-skah'-reh. But the land 
was desolate — a solitude. Besides the Woman and the Two 
children, only the Animals lived upon it. 

YL— THE MODIFICATION OF THE GREAT 

ISLAND. 

When the Twins had finished enlarging the Great Island 
they made a further agreement to prepare it for the habita- 
tion of man, and other animals than those first found here. 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 75 

Each brother was to go through his own land. 1 He 
was to make his realm to conform in surface, animals, 
birds, streams, lakes, plants, etc., to his own conceptions of 
utility and beauty. The works of each were to be subject 
to the modification of the other, but neither was to abso- 
lutely change the character of any work of the other, nor 
was he to totally destroy it. 

Each brother now went his way, and did that which 
was proper in his own eyes. They were engaged in this 
work for untold ages. When their works were finished, 
they met again as they had agreed. 

When Tah'-weh-skah'-reh inspected the works of Tseh'- 
stah he believed they were much too good. Accordingly, 
he diminished their good qualities to the utmost of his 
power. 

The animals, birds and fishes good for food are the gifts 
of Tseh'-stah. They, and all other animals, were made 
gentle, harmless. Tooth nor claw was ever made to be 
turned upon the Wyandot; no animal thirsted for his 
blood. In lieu of their gentle natures, Tah'-weh-skah'-reh 
made them to have wild and fierce dispositions. He fright- 
ened them until they fled from the light of day and only 
left their lairs at night. The gentle undulations of the 
park-like woods were changed to rough hills and endless 
mountain ranges; and rocks, thorns, bushes, briers and 
brambles were scattered broadcast to plague the Indian. 
He sprinkled his own blood over the land, and each drop of 
it made a ragged flint-stone which lay in wait to rend and 

1 Whether the modern opinion that the land was divided into Eastern and Western 
divisions is correct or not, we cannot now tell. The descriptions of the divisions would 
seem to indicate that they were in fact. North and South divisions. I have followed 
what the Wyandots told me. 



76 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



cut the Indian's foot. Water would not drown, but Tah'- 
weh-skah'-reh gave it an evil spirit to make it take the life 
of the Indian. Evil spirits were placed at many water- 
falls to drag down and destroy Wyandots. The maple tree 
furnished a pure syrup^ but Tah'-weh-skah'-reh poured 
water over the tree and reduced its sweetness to what we 
find it at this day. Tseh'-stah made the corn plant. It 
grew without cultivation, and a hundred ears were found 
upon a single stalk. Tah'-weh-skah'-reh made it difficult 
to raise, and but a few ears were permitted to grow on one 
stalk. The bean-pod grew upon a tree, and was as long as 
the Indian's arm ; it was filled with beans as large as the 
turkey's egg, and which were richer than bear's fat. The 
tree was dwarfed to a helpless vine, and the pod was so re- 
duced that it was no longer than the Indian's finger. But 
the wrath of Tah'-weh-skah'-reh rose into fury when he be- 
held the rivers as made by Tseh'-stah. They were made 
with two currents, flowing in opposite directions, one by 
each bank, so that the Indian could go either up or down 
the streams without the labor of paddling his canoe. Tah'- 
weh-skah'-reh thrust his big hand into the river and gave 
the waters a great swish or splash and mixed them, forcing 
both currents into only one, and this he made to run al- 
ways in but one direction. 

Tseh'-stah found the works of Tah'-weh-skah'-reh much 
too large and very bad. Bare mountains of rock pierced 
the sky. Endless swamps and quagmires were spread 
abroad. Huge beasts, reptiles, birds and insects were at 
every point to terrify and destroy the Indian. The North 
Wind stood guardian of the land, and with snows and bit- 
ter blasts swept this western world. Icicles miles and miles 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



77 



in length hung from the ragged cliffs. Myriads and mil- 
lions of mosquitoes, each as large as the pheasant, swarmed 
up from the fetid marshes of the South. Nothing was 
Good — everything was Bad. All the works of Tah'-weh- 
skah'-reh were modified and their evil qualities reduced to 
the utmost degree to which he could go by Tseh'-stah. But 
whatever of evil there is in this world comes from Tah'- 
weh-skah'-reh and his wicked works. 

The North Wind is still a wicked deity of the Wyandots. 



VII.— THE DEER AND THE RAINBOW, OR HOW 
THE ANIMALS GOT INTO THE SKY. 

The Animals were greatly distressed and much offended 
by the works of Tah'-weh-skah'-reh. They saw how for- 
tunate was the Little Turtle, who spent most of her time 
" Keeping the Heavens." She always came, to attend the 
Great Council, in the Black Cloud in which were the 
springs, ponds, streams and lakes. 

One day the Deer said to the Rainbow : 

" Carry me up to the sky. I must see the Little Turtle.' 7 

The Rainbow did not wish to comply with the request of 
the Deer at that time, but wished to consult the Thunder 
God about the matter, and so replied : 

" Come to me in the winter when I rest on the mountain 
by the lake. Then I will take you up to the house of the 
Little Turtle." 

The Deer looked and waited all winter for the Rainbow ; 
but the Rainbow did not come. When the Rainbow came, 
in the summer, the Deer said : 



78 



TWENTIETH CElSrTUEY CLASSICS 



f l I waited for you all winter, on the mountain by the 
lake ; you did not come. Why did you deceive me?" 

Then the Rainbow said : 

" When you see me in the Fog, over the lake, come to 
me ; then you can go up. I will carry you up to the house 
of the Little Turtle in the sky." 

One day the Fog rolled in thick banks and heavy masses, 
over the lake. The Deer stood on the hill by the lake, wait- 
ing and looking for the Rainbow. When the Rainbow 
threw the beautiful arch from the lake to the hill, a very 
white and shining light flashed and shone about the Deer. 
A straight path, with all the colors of the Rainbow, lay 
before the Deer; it led through a strange forest. The 
Rainbow said: 

" Follow the beautiful path through the strange woods." 

This the Deer did. The beautiful way led the Deer to 
the house of the Little Turtle, in the sky. And the Deer 
went about the sky everywhere. 

When the Great Council met, the Bear said : 

" The Deer is not yet come to the Council ; where is the 
Deer?" 

Then the Hawk flew all about to look for the Deer ; but 
the Hawk could not find the Deer in the air. Then the 
Wolf looked in all the woods ; but the Deer could not be 
found in the woods anywhere. 

When the Little Turtle came, in the Black Cloud, in 
which were the streams, the lakes and the ponds, the Bear 
said : 

" The Deer is not yet come to the Council ; where is the 
Deer? There can be no council without the Deer." 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 79 

The Little Turtle replied : 

" The Deer is in the sky. The Rainbow made a beauti- 
ful pathway of all her colors for the Deer to come up by." 

The Council looked up to the sky and saw the Deer run- 
ning about there. Then the Little Turtle showed to the 
Council the beautiful pathway made for the Deer by the 
Rainbow. All the Animals except the Mud Turtle went 
along the beautiful way, which led them up into the sky. 
They remain there to this day. They may often be seen, 
flying or running about the sky. 

From this myth, the Deer is sometimes spoken of as 
Deh'-hehn-yahn'-teh — " The Rainbow," or more properly, 
" The path of many colors made for the Deer by the Rain- 
bow." This is one of the oldest names for men in the list 
of names belonging to the Deer Clan. It is one of the 
names of the writer. 

VIII.— PEOPLE BROUGHT TO THE GREAT 
ISLAND. 

When the Animals went into the sky, the world was in 
despair. The Mountains shrieked and the Earth groaned 
continually. The Rivers and the Great Water rocked to 
and fro in their beds, and all the beasts cried aloud for 
their Mothers, the Animals. The Trees wept tears of blood 
and the Pour Winds rent one another in madness and 
wrath. 

Tseh'-stah and Tah'-weh-skiih'-reh met to devise a plan 
to people the Great Island. The place where this meeting 
was held (it is called a Council, in the Wyandot) is called 
the Point of Separation ; for the Wyandots say it was held 



80 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



on the line separating the land of the Good Brother from 
the land of the Bad One. The Wyandots came afterwards 
to believe that the Mississippi river was this line. The 
descriptions given by the Wyandots would seem to point to 
Northern and Southern divisions instead of Eastern and 
Western. I have followed the Wyandots in this matter, 
although it seems that they were in error as to what the 
ancient belief actually was upon this subject. 

The agreement as finally made between the Twins pro- 
vided that they should bring people to the Great Island 
from the land of the Mighty Kuler in heaven. Each was 
to people his own land, and rule over it without interfer- 
ence from the other. 

Tseh'-stah brought to his land Wyandots only. 

Tiih'-weh-skah'-reh brought with him many kinds of peo- 
ple, some good and some bad. Some accounts say that the 
Brothers created these people outright. 

The people of each Brother multiplied. In time they 
became many peoples. 

IX.— THE FIKST WAE AND THE FIRST WORKS 
OF THE GREAT ISLAND DESTROYED. 

The ancient compact between the brothers was contin- 
ually violated by Tah'-weh-skah'-reh and his people. The 
result was a war between the brothers and their respective 
peoples. 

This war lasted many ages. So fierce and devastating 
was it that all the works made by the brothers, in the be- 
ginning was destroyed. The Good Brother was so closely 
pressed by the Bad Brother that he made the Little People 



WYANDOT FOLKXLOKE 81 

to assist him in his warfare against Tah'-weh-skah'-reh and 
his people. By their aid Tseh'-stah overcame his wicked 
brother and his followers. Tseh'-stah pursued Tah'-weh- 
skah'-reh when he fled into his own dominions. The for- 
mer was armed with the horns of a deer ; the latter with 
the flowering branch which he had torn from the wild apple 
tree, which fell down from heaven with his Mother. When 
Tah'-weh-skah'-reh entered his own land in his flight from 
his victorious brother, he was bleeding from many wounds 
inflicted by the horns of the deer in his brother's hands. 
Where this blood fell upon the ground it was congealed 
into flint-stones as sharp as knives, to hinder the pursuit of 
Tseh'-stah. But all his resources availed Tah'-weh-skah'- 
reh nothing. He was beaten down to the earth and slain 
with the horns by Tseh'-stah, his brother. 

X.— THE RE-CREATION BY TSEH-STAH OF 
THE WORKS OF THE GREAT ISLAND. 

The war had desolated the Great Island. This destruc- 
tion was caused by the use of fire by Tseh'-stah and of the 
use of the North Wind by Tah'-weh-skah'-reh. No means 
of subsistence were left. To preserve his people until he 
could re-create the destroyed works of the Great Island, 
Tseh'-stah built the Yooh'-wah-tah'-yoh, or great under- 
ground City or subterreanean Dwelling, far to the north 
of Montreal's present site. Into this he led his people, and 
then went forth to his work of reconstruction. Here the 
people were in a torpid state, like turtles and toads and 
snakes in winter. They were lying about the City in all 
positions, and they retained only a partial consciousness. 

— 6 



82 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



The Woman who fell down from heaven ruled over them 
with her fiery torch given by Heh-noh, the Thunder God. 

In making these things anew, Tseh'-stah could only re- 
produce them as they were before their destruction in the 
war, and as they had been left by the modifications of him- 
self and Tah'-weh-skah'-reh. This work required an im- 
mense length of time. After ages had elapsed, Tseh'-stah 
came back to the Yooh'-wah-tah'-yoh. He said the work 
was done, and that it was yet too new for use. They could 
not go out until the Earth was ripened by the Sun. 

From the point in the Yooh'-wah-tah'-yoh where the 
Wyandots were a glimmering of light could be seen, and 
Tseh'-stah often went to this small opening to observe the 
progress of the process of ripening which the world was 
undergoing. His uniform report when he returned from 
these inspections was that the world was yet too new for 
use. 

After the Wyandots had waited many ages here, the 
world was ready for their use again. One day in spring 
Tseh'-stah went forth from the Yooh'-wah-tah'-yoh by the 
small opening. He looked about the whole of the Great Isl- 
and. He saw it was indeed ready to receive the people for 
whom it had been created, and for whom all the works of 
Nature cried out both day and night. He returned to the 
Yooh'-wah-tah'-yoh where sat the Woman who fell down 
from heaven with her torch of fire given by Heh'-noh, the 
Thunder God. He announced to his Mother that the 
world cried aloud for her children. She said to him : 
" My son, lead them forth in the Order of Precedence and 
Encampment. They shall come to me on their journey to 
the land of the Little People." 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE °° 

Then Tseh'-stah caused the Earth to quake and to rock 
to its foundation. Heh'-noh shook the heavens and rolled 
over the Great Waters with his Thunder. All the sky 
flamed with his fiery darts. The great Yooh'-wah-tah'-yoh 
was rent asunder. A nation stood marshaled to go forth. 
They marched to the waiting world. The hills, the waters, 
the beasts, the trees, the birds and the fishes cried out with 
welcome to the nation born of the earth in a day. They 
found the earth decked with flowers, and songs of joy 
poured out from the forests filled with happy birds. 

They found some of the people of Tah'-weh-skah'-reh 
still living on the Great Island. Their preservation is not 
accounted for. 

Here ends the Song of the Creation, as sung by Captain 
Bull-Head and William Big-Town. 



XL— THE FLYING HEADS. 

It has been said that stories of the Flying Heads 
seem to be exclusively of Tuscarora origin. The supposi- 
tion that the myths of these monsters are, or ever were, 
confined exclusively to the Tuscarora people, is certainly 
erroneous. The Wyandots had many myths concerning 
the Flying Heads. Their origin is also accounted for in 
the Wyandot myths. 

The origin of the Flying Heads is ascribed to two very 
different sources by the Wyandot mythology, as recited at 
this time. Which is the true and ancient myth I cannot 



84 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

say. The first account says that they were made by Tah'- 
weh-skah'-reh to plague Tseh'-stah and his people, the 
Wyandots. The second account is as follows: 

Ages and ages ago the Wyandots were migrating from 
a distant country. They were moving all their villages. 
In the course of their migration they came to a large river 
with exceedingly steep and rocky shores. This river be- 
longed to some Giants, and these opposed the crossing of 
the Wyandots. 

These Giants were all medicine men. They were of im- 
mense size, being as tall as the highest tree. They lived 
in the stone caverns under the bed of the river. They were 
cruel and wicked cannibals. 

The Wyandots made canoes and attempted to cross over. 
When a canoe loaded with Wyandots pushed out into the 
stream, the Giants thrust up from the hidden depths of the 
water their huge hands, dragged down both canoe and pas- 
sengers. The Wyandots were carried to the stone caverns 
of the Giants, where they were tortured at the fiery stake, 
and afterwards devoured. 

The Wyandots were terrified. They could neither ad- 
vance nor retreat. A solemn Council was called to deliber- 
ate upon their fearful dilemma. At the Council a powerful 
" medicine " was made, by the aid of which it was learned 
that the Giants could be captured and destroyed if a ring of 
fire could be built about them when they came out of 
their caves under the river. 

Upon the same night of the Council, the Wyandots saw, 
on a high cliff on the opposite side of the river, the 
Giants dancing about the fires in which they were tor- 
turing some Wyandots captured a few days before. 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



85 



The Little Turtle said: 

" I can make a great fire from the Lightning. It will 
go all about the Giants. How can our warriors cross over 
the river ? " 

The Big Turtle said : 

" Let the Little Turtle and his warriors get upon my 
hack. I will carry them on the bottom of the river, under 
the water, and the Giants will not see us." 

It was so done. The warriors of the Little Turtle crept 
about the camp of the Giants. Then the Little Turtle 
brought the Thunder and the Lightning. The Lightning 
leaped into a great wall, all about the Giants, while the 
Thunder bore them to the earth. The warriors of the 
Little Turtle rushed upon the Giants and seized them. 

The Little Turtle carried the Giants to a high rock that 
overhung the river. Here the head of each Giant was cut 
ofx and thrown down into the raging water. But the sur- 
prise of the Wyandots, and their dismay also, was great 
when at the dawning of the day they saw all these Giant 
Heads rise from the waters, with streaming hair covered 
with blood which shone like lightning. They rose from 
the troubled waters uttering horrible screams, screeches 
and yells, flew along the river, and disappeared. 

The Wyandots destroyed the caves of the Giants. They 
then crossed over the river and continued their journey. 
They came to the point where Montreal now stands. 

The Flying Heads plagued the Wyandots. They were 
more dangerous and troublesome during rainy, foggy, or 
misty weather. They could enter a cloud of fog, or mist, 
or rime, and in it approach a Wyandot village unseen. 
They were cruel and wicked hooh'-kehs and cannibals. 



86 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

They caused sickness ; they were vampires, and lay in wait 
for people, whom they caught and devoured. They carried 
away children ; they blighted the tobacco and other crops ; 
they stole and devoured the game after the hunter had 
killed it. 

Fire was the most potent agency with which to resist 
them. The Lightning sometimes killed one. The Little 
People often helped the Wyandots drive them away from 
their villages. I could never learn that it was supposed 
that the Flying Heads were ever either entirely expelled or 
that they voluntarily departed from the Wyandot country. 

XII.— THE GREAT SERPENTS. 

The Wyandot myths are not agreed as to the origin of 
the Monster Serpents. By some versions they are supposed 
to be some of the monsters made by Tah'-weh-skah'-reh. 
Other accounts make their origin the same as that of the 
Flying Heads. They say that the bodies of the hooh'-keh 
Giants left on the high rock over the river after their 
heads had been cut off and thrown down did not die, but 
remained alive. After the Wyandots had gone on upon 
their migration these bodies of the hooh'-keh Giants wrig- 
gled themselves to the edge of the precipice and cast their 
bodies down into the water. Here they were soon trans- 
formed into the Big Serpents — huge snakes of enormous 
length. They slowly followed the Wyandots in their 
migration, and plagued and tormented them for ages. 
Some of them were never killed. They live in the bottom 
of the Great Lakes to this day. Sometimes they throw 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE $7 

the waters into great commotion, which can only be allayed 
by throwing some offering into the lake. 

The rivers joining the Great Lakes are only the worn 
ways made by these monsters in crawling from one lake to 
another. 

XIII.— THE OEIGIN OF THE SNAKE CLAX 
OF THE WYANDOTS. 

[The following is very nearly the exact wording of Matthias 
Splitlog in his relation of this legend. George Wright told this 
almost the same way.] 

We will commence this way. The old Woman and her 
granddaughter lived in a lodge in the pine woods. From 
the best hunters and greatest warriors of the tribe the 
Young Woman had offers of marriage. She was haughty, 
and would speak to none of her people. These women 
were of the Deer Clan. 

So, it seems she (the Young Woman) was wandering 
about her lodge in the Wilderness of the Pine Woods. 
She saw in the distance a fine-looking young man. He 
approached her with insinuating addresses. She desired 
him much. He carried her away to -his own lodge. They 
lived there for some time. His mother lived in their lodge. 
One day she went into the woods. She left him lying- 
down. She came back to the lodge and looked among the 
skins where he was lying. There was a great heap of 
snakes. When she looked again there was one snake— a 
big snake. She cried aloud and was terrified. Hi^ 
mother said to him: -'Why did you do this?"—*, e., 
turn into a snake. 



88 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

She turned about and fled for life towards the seacoast. 
When she reached the coast she found a man in a canoe, 
who told her to jump on board. When she had done so, 
he paddled at lightning speed for the other shore. This 
act of the Young Woman is called Ooh'-dah-tohn'-teh — 
She has left her village. It is the first name in the list 
for women belonging to the Snake Clan. Mrs. Sarah 
Dagnet, a Wyandot of the Snake Clan, is so named. 

When the man and the Young Woman in the canoe had 
gone some distance they heard the Snake-Man coming in 
pursuit, calling to his wife and entreating her to return. 
He came to the water, and waded in a way in his effort 
to follow her, always crying out to her to return. This act 
of the Snake is called Kak-yooh'-inehn-dah'-tah by the 
Wyandots, and signifies entreating without avail, or crying 
to one your voice does not reach, or does not affect. This 
word is one of the oldest names for men in the list belong- 
ing to the Snake Clan. James Splitlog of the Wyandot 
Reserve is so named. He is one of the very few left of 
the Snake Clan. 

When the Snake-Man went into the water in pursuit, 
the Black Cloud rolled across the sky, and Heh'-noh slew 
him with a fiery dart. 

The man with whom she embarked conveyed her safely 
to the other shore. Upon her arrival there she saw a man 
who said, " Follow me." He took her to a medicine man. 
Her children were called Snakes. And from these is de- 
scended the Snake Clan of the Wyandots. 

This Snake or Snake-Man, was short and heavy, in shape 
much like the cow-buffalo. He had horns like the Deer. 
It was supposed that the Snake was given horns as a 



W YANDOT TOLK-LORE 



89 



concession to the clan of the woman he hoped to retain as 
his wife. 

There are several forms of this legend. 

XIV.— THE WITCH BUFFALOES. 

In the land of Silence, Tseh'-stah made the largest and 
most beautiful Spring in all his dominions. This is 
now the Big Bone Licks in Boone county, Kentucky. It 
is " the big Spring which flowed in ancient times/' and 
which may be properly rendered " The Great Ancient 
Spring." The modern Wyandot name for it is Oh'-tseh- 
yooh'-mah, " The Spring of bitter water.'' 

Tseh'-stah made this spring at this point because here 
stood the lodge of Shooh-tah'-ah, with whom dwelt the 
Woman that fell down from heaven. The .Two Children 
were born here. From this Spring, which was then small 
drank " The Man of Fire " and " The Man of Flint," in 
the days of their childhood. 

As enlarged by Tseh'stah the Ancient Spring was so 
broad that the eye could not see from one bank to the 
other. Its waters were so clear that the smallest 
pebble could be seen at the bottom of its inconceivable 
depths. Then it was the " Great Ancient Spring." As 
modified by Tah'-weh-skah'-reh it was reduced to its pres- 
ent size and became Oh'-tseh-y66h'-mah, " The Spring of 
bitter water." 

The Wyandots described these Springs as " the great and 
ancient Spring where the bones are and where the animals 
come to drink and to see each other." 

Tah'-weh-skah'-reh made a great drum or gong, of stone 



90 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS j 

or flint, and put it at these Springs. He put in charge of 
the Springs the Witch Buffaloes, who made unjust rules 
and oppressive regulations for the government of the 
Indians and animals coining to use the waters. Elks were 
admitted to the Springs ; when they had been there a stated 
time they were forced out, and buffaloes admitted, and so of 
all the animals. The Witch Buffaloes indicated their 
wishes, and gave forth their orders and commands by 
beating on the great drum of flint, which could be heard 
as far as the Great Lakes. 

The Witch Buffaloes are represented as having been as 
tall as a tree, with horns as long as a man is high. Their 
horns stood straight out from their foreheads. They are 
always spoken of in the feminine gender. 

So oppressive became the Witch Buffaloes that no ani- 
mal was free to approach the Springs, and thus were the 
Wyandots prohibited from lying in wait to slay them for 
food as they came to drink. Neither were the Wyandots 
allowed to go there to make salt. Finally the Little People 
took pity on the Wyandots and resolved to destroy the 
Witch Buffaloes. 

Two of the Little People were directed to go to the 
Springs to perform this difficult task. It required long 
preliminary work to make ready for the slaughter. When 
all was ready they attacked the Witch Buffaloes and slew 
all but a single one, which they wounded, and which only 
escaped by so enormous a leap that it passed beyond the 
Great Lakes at the single bound. After the Witch Buffa- 
loes were killed and expelled, the Little People assembled 
all the animals and said to them and to the Wyandots, 
" Drink as you will. We are forever the keepers of the 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 91 

Oh'-tseh-yooh'-mah." The great number of huge bones 
found by white men at the Big Bone Licks were the bones 
of the Witch Buffaloes. 

The footprints of the two Little People can be yet seen 
in the stones all over that part of Kentucky about these 
Springs. They made them while driving all the Witch 
Buffaloes to the Springs for slaughter. At some points 
may be seen also the impressions of their bodies and of 
their bows and quivers on the stone where they sat or lay 
down. So say the legends of the Wyandots. 

XV.— THE STONE GIANTS. 

Like the Flying Heads, the Stone Giants, or Hooh'- 
strah-dooh', are attributed to two sources. By one account 
they were descended from the Hooh'-keh Giants and the 
Wyandot women they carried away with them when they 
fled through the Wyandot camp. I believe it improbable 
that the Wyandots would ascribe the descent of so obnox- 
ious a people to women of their own blood, and conse- 
quently, I believe this conception of their origin must 
have originated with an alien and unfriendly people. But 
of this I cannot be sure, for I heard this account from 
Wyandots only, and more frequently than the other ac- 
count. 

The second account says the Hooh'-strah-dooh' were 
made by Tah'-weh-skah'-reh to assist him in the war he so 
wantonly and unjustly waged against his brother, Tseh'- 
stah, and wherein he lost his life. 

The Hooh'-strah-duuh' were medicine men as well as 
Giants. They were clad in coats of pliable stone. These 



92 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

garments are represented as covering the body completely. 
Their stone coats were made by smearing the crude turpen- 
tine from the pine tree over their bodies, and then rolling 
in the dry sand of the shores of the Great Water. This 
process was repeated until the coats were of the required 
thickness. 

The Hooh'-strah-dooh' were cannibals. They slew the 
Wyandots for the express purpose of devouring their 
bodies. They are represented as having been half-a-tree 
tall, and large in proportion. A Hooh'-strah-dooh' could 
eat three Wyandots at a single meal. 

There is no account of any particular war between the 
Wyandots and the Hooh'-strah-dooh'. The Wyandots 
seem to have been annoyed and plagued by them from time 
immemorial; and always to have been in terror of them. 
Sometimes they combined in great numbers and attacked 
one of the Hooh'-strah-dooh'. If by any great good-fortune 
a chance arrow reached one of the vulnerable points (eyes, 
mouth, etc.) the Wyandots were victorious; if no such 
good-fortune attended them in the unequal combat, a 
bundle of blood-stained, dripping Wyandot slain was 
carried from the fatal field on the back of the victorious 
and bloodthirsty Stone Giant for his supper. 

The Wyandots sought the aid of the Little People in 
an effort to expel or conquer the Stone Giants. After a 
long contest they were divested of their stone coats, and 
so far reduced that they did not dare to openly attack the 
Wyandots again. But they lived in solitary places, and 
attacked hunters and travelers that slept at night in the 
woods. A favorite stratagem of theirs was to enter the 
dead body of some Wyandot that had died, in a solitary 



WYANDOT FOLK-IiOBB 93 

hut, alone. When his friends discovered him, or a belated 
traveler stopped at the hut, and slept, the Stone Giant ani- 
mated the corpse, which stealthily slew and devoured the 
unfortunate sleepers. A " medicine " made of the bark of 
the deh'-tah-tseh'-ah, or red-bud tree, was supposed to afford 
the Wyandots complete protection from such attacks of 
the conquered Stone Giants. 

The cleh'-tah-tseh'-ah, or red-bud, was, in a sense, a 
sacred tree with the Wyandot people. Its name means 
" the fire tree/' and when its scarlet bloom flames along the 
bleak hillsides in the early spring the Wyandots say that 
Tseh'-stah is returning again, and bringing with him the 
spring. 

XVI.— ORIGIN OF THE HAWK CLAN OF THE 
WYANDOTS. 

The Big Bird was the Ruler or Mighty Chief of all the 
Eagles, Hawks, Owls, and other birds of prey, as his name 
indicates. He lived on the top of a rock so high that the 
clouds shut out all view of the lower world. 

A Wyandot Girl was too proud to live with her clan, 
the name of which is not now remembered. She was an 
orphan, and lived with her grandmother. They lived in 
the woods, close to a large open space, or prairie. They 
were almost starved, for there was no hunter, and no meat 
in the lodge. The Girl was disconsolate and melancholy. 
She wandered about the prairie and in the woods. 

One day she was walking in the prairie close to the 
borders of the forest. Suddenly, as she went along, a 
great cloud overshadowed her. When she looked up, be- 



94: TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

hold ! the cloud was descending upon her, and with huge 
claws to catch her ! Then she saw that it was the Great 
Bird Chief. 

The Girl ran as fast as she could to the woods near by. 
There she found a great log which was hollow ; she crept 
into it. The Bird Chief followed her and alighted upon 
the log. He gave a mighty flap with his immense wings, 
and the blast caused thereby w r as a storm that leveled the 
forest. At the same time he exclaimed " kooh-koohks ! " 
(I will claw!) and his voice was like a thunder-crash. 
Then he seized the log in his terrible talons, and carried 
both log and Girl to the top of the precipice where he had 
his home. He lay the log down upon the edge of the 
height and shook it to make the Girl come out. But she 
would not do so. 

The Girl waited until the Bird Chief went away; then 
she came out of the log. She looked about and could see 
only the clouds beating upon the crag. She could not climb 
down. She found a large nest upon the crag-top, and in 
it two young birds, each larger than an elk. All about lay 
dead deer, buffaloes, and other animals, wdiich the Bird 
Chief had brought up for his young to eat. She found 
that the wife of the Bird Chief had been slain and thrown 
down from the pinnacle-top by him while he was in a 
fury ; and he was compelled himself to catch all the* animals 
used for food by his young. 

The Bird Chief was a medicine man, and could assume 
any form he chose. He came back to his lodge on the top 
of the rock, in the form of a young man. She was his 
wife (partner — more properly, friend) there in the clouds, 
on the pinnacle-top. But she despised him, and longed 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 95 

to escape ; of this, however, she had little hope. It finally 
occurred to her, though, that she might escape by the aid of 
the young birds. She chose the larger one to aid her. She 
fed him well, and he grew rapidly. It was not long until he 
could fly off a way and then return to the rock. She 
thought her time of escape was approaching. 

She watched the Bird Chief narrowly, and had learned 
by this time when he went away, how long he remained 
absent, and when he returned. She prepared a short 
stick. One day when the young bird approached the 
edge of the rock, she, at the opportune moment, sprang 
upon his back, and clasped him tightly about the neck. 
The sudden action of the Girl carried the young bird over 
the precipice, and away they went, Girl and bird, tumbling 
down the crag. In a little while the young bird spread his 
wings, caught himself, and flew. When he did not go 
down fast enough she tapped him on the top of the head 
with the stick to make him descend the more rapidly. 
After awhile she could see the land. 

When they were about to get to the ground she heard the 
Bird Chief coming down in pursuit. The whistling and 
trumpeting he made in his rage were terrible to listen to. 
She tapped the young bird's head again and again, and 
finally got to land. She jumped from the young bird's 
back, plucked the long feathers from his wings so he 
could not fly after her, then ran into the thick brush and 
hid in a hole in the rock. 

When the Bird Chief came down to the ground he 
searched everywhere for the Girl, but could not find her. 
The young bird was very uncomfortable in these lower 
regions, and was continually crying out that he wanted to 



96 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

be carried back to the pinnacle. After a long and fruit- 
less search for the Girl, the Bird Chief heeded the cries 
of his helpless son, and, taking him in his talons, circled 
about, and finally disappeared in the clouds. Then the 
Girl gathered up the feathers which she had plucked from 
the wings of the young bird, and carried them to the hut 
where her grandmother lived. 

The children of the Girl were called Hawks. Each one 
was given a feather of those plucked by the mother from 
the young bird's wings. These Hawks became the an- 
cestors of the Hawk Clan of the Wyandots. 

XVII.— HOW THE WYAKDOTS OBTAINED THE 
TOBACCO PLANT. 

The village stood by the lake. Clear streams flowed into 
the lake from the hills. On the hills were large trees. 
The Hawk Clan lived in this village. In the village lived 
an old man of the Bear Clan. He had a young wife of 
the Hawk Clan. Two daughters were born to them. 
When she was twelve years old the first daughter died. 
Much grief did her death bring to the Old Man and his 
young wife. When the second daughter reached the age 
of twelve, she, too, was seized with a fatal sickness, and 
soon died, also. And the mother soon died of grief. The 
Old Man was left alone in the lodge, in deep sorrow. 
But he went about to do good. He was held in much 
esteem by all the village of the Hawk people. 

One day when the Old Man, and others of the village, 
were standing by the lake, a large flock of immense 
Hawks, half-a-tree tall, came flying over the blue hills, 10 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



97 



the lake. They wheeled and circled about the lake and its 
shores. One of their number fell to the ground. It lay 
on the lake-shore, with its wings thrown above its back 
like a dove shot with an arrow. The other Hawks flew 
about for a short time. They screamed and called to each 
other. Then they flew back over the blue hills from 
whence they came. 

The visit of the Great Hawks to the lake terrified the 
people in the village. And those standing on the bank of 
the lake by the Old Man ran about and called aloud, 
from fright. The Old Man was not frightened by the 
Great Hawks. He said, " I will go and see the stricken 
Hawk that fell down." The people said, " Do not go to 
the Hawk." But the Old Man replied, " I am old. My 
life is almost done. The heavens are black. I am full of 
sorrow. I am alone. It can matter little if I die. And 
I am not afraid of death. I will see the stricken Hawk." 

He went on. The way grew dark. But the Hawk lying 
on the ground remained before him. As he advanced a 
great flame swept dowm and consumed the Hawk. When 
he came to where it had lain, ashes were all about. Lying 
in these w 7 as a living coal of fire in which he saw his first- 
born daughter. He stooped to look. He saw it was indeed 
his daughter. He took her up. She spoke to him. Then 
the other people of the village came also. The child spoke 
to them. She said, " I have returned with a precious 
gift for the Wyandots. I am sent with it to my own clan, 
the Hawk people." 

Then she opened her hands. They were full of very 
small seeds. These she planted in the ashes of the fire 



98 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

from which she had risen. Soon a large field of Tobacco 
grew from the little seeds. 

The Girl lived with her people. She taught them how to 
cultivate and cure the Tobacco. She taught them to make 
offerings of it, and to smoke it in pipes. 

And the Wyandots were thus more fortunate than any- 
other people. They alone had Tobacco. 

[There are other forms of this myth.] 

XVIIL— THE LAZY HUNTEK WHO WISHED 
TO GET MAKEIED. 

Once there was a very lazy and worthless man in a 
Wyandot village. He had never killed any game. He 
was regarded with scorn by the Avomen, and with indiffer- 
ence by the men. When he sought a wife he was an- 
swered by the damsel, " No meat can be found in your 
lodge; woman likes meat." 

The great desire he had for a wife forced him to try 
to get some meat for his lodge. On a warm day in summer 
he went into the woods about the village with his war-club. 
The first animal which he saw was an opossum. This he 
slew with his war-club. He seized it by the tail and flung 
it over his shoulder; and he marched to the village with 
his game. Elies swarmed upon his opossum. In the 
village when he stepped over a log or jumped across a 
brook the flies rose in clouds and hummed about his ears. 
But he believed that the noise of the wings of the flies 
was the clamor of the maidens of the village in determin- 
ing whom of them should have him for a husband, and 
in admiration of his prowess as a hunter. However, none 



W VAX DOT FOLK-LOBE 



99 



of them accosted him with a proposal to be his wife. At 
the extreme edge of the village he met some hunters coming 
in with game. To these he complained of his ill success 
in getting a wife. The hunters were greatly amused, 
and set upon him in so boisterous a way that he threw 
down his opossum and fled into the woods. And he is 
running about there to this day, in a vain search for 
game with which to get a wife. 

XIX.— THE TATTLEE. 

There is a small bird in the Wyandot country, about 
the size of and much like the tomtit. He has a light or 
grayish head, and black circles around his eyes. The 
Wyandots believe him to be a great tattler or tale-bearer — 
a mischief-making liar — and that these black rings about 
his eyes are the result of injury received from some bird 
whom he has harmed by his lying. For this reason the 
bird is called Tah'-teh-zhah'-eh-zhah'-eh— The Tattler. 
A lying man or woman is given this same name by the 
Wyandots. 

XX.— SUPERSTITIONS. 

Many superstitions are believed in to this day by the 
Wyandots. Perhaps some of them are those of white 
people. Others are of Indian origin. 

One of these is the seeing of the soul of a person. 
Often persons that are known to be miles away, or to be 
sick in bed, are met on the highway, usually at the 
crossings of streams; or they are seen walking about the 
fields and paths. If thev are seen in the forenoon the 



100 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

omen is good for the person so seen, and the earlier seen 
the better the omen. But if seen in the afternoon the 
omen for the person so seen is bad, and if after sunset 
and before midnight it indicates that the person so seen 
will die in a short time. 

The medicine men and medicine women were supposed 
to possess the power to assume the form and nature of any 
animal they chose for the purpose. Under this guise they 
were supposed to go about the neighborhood and commit 
such depredations as the animal was capable of. If the 
animal was killed, the person was killed ; if only wounded, 
the person carried a similar wound. This belief gave rise 
to the story of 

The Bio Dog. — Once, in Wyandotte county, Kansas, 
the Wyandots were troubled by the prowling of a vicious 
dog of enormous size and strength. This dog was 
seen only at night. Calves, lambs and pigs were 
killed by it. Any article of household furnishing 
left outdoors overnight was usually torn and soiled, 
if not totally destroyed. Belated travelers were attacked 
and often severely injured. The favorite dogs of the 
Wyandots were maimed, crippled, killed. Gardens and 
flower-beds were trampled down and ruined. Smoke- 
houses were invaded, and hams, shoulders, jowls and 
middlings carried away. Hencoops were overturned, and 
havoc played with their feathered occupants. Flocks of 
geese and ducks were chased, worried, destroyed. 

Terror reigned. Lovers did not stroll in the moonlight. 
Husbands ascertained that they could transact their busi- 
ness in " Kansas," take aboard a reasonable amount of 
" fire-water," and still reach home before dark. Live- 



WYANDOT FOLK-LOBE 101 

stock was housed, and it was observed that " breachy n 
kine which had before delighted in the nocturnal destruc- 
tion of a neighbor's crop, huddled close to the yard 
fences at sunset, and there demurely chewed the cud of 
content till the sun was well up on the following morning. 
Things came to such a pass that Captain Bull-Head 
was importuned to deliver the people from the pest and 
nuisance. He made " medicine/' and ascertained that 
this dog was in fact an old woman of the Wyandots, 
noted for her malevolence and cynicism. He loaded the 
old British blunderbuss which he had carried in the ranks 
of Proctor's army in the war of 1812. He loaded it accord- 
ing to the formula prescribed by Wyandot superstition for 
" witch-killing," for no ordinary bullet and gunpowder 
had any effect upon witches. The night which followed 
his preparations was damp and rainy. Sheets of red 
lightning flared up from the horizon, and a sullen thunder 
growled and rolled and bellowed in the distance. It was 
such a night as witches delight to be abroad in. About 
ten o'clock a hubbub was raised in Captain Bull-Head's 
pig-pen. He advanced to the rescue, and upon his arrival 
there the Big Dog bounded out of the inclosure. As it 
went over the fence the Captain fired, and a terrific howl 
went up, but the Big Dog disappeared and was never 
seen again. And lo! the next morning this same old 
Wyandot woman was found to have a badly wounded foot ! 
And what though she told of falling? The whole com- 
munity was sure that Captain Bull-Head had shot her as 
she jumped over the walls of his pig-sty ! 



102 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



XXI.— WHY THE AUTUMNAL FORESTS ARE 
MANY-COLORED. 

The Animals were angry with the Deer for deserting 
them and forsaking the Great Council to go into the sky. 
They believed that all should have gone up together. 

The Bear was the second animal to go into the sky by 
way of the beautiful pathway of burning colors laid down 
by the Rainbow. When the Bear had come up, he said 
to the Deer: 

" Why did you leave us to come into the sky, the land 
of the Little Turtle? Why did you desert the Great 
Council ? Why did you not wait until all could come with 
you ? " 

The Deer said: 

" None but the Wolf may question why I came. I will 
slay you for your impertinence." 

Then the Deer arched his neck; he poised his an tiered 
head ; the hair stood erect along his back ; his eyes blazed 
with the fires of a fury which burned within him. 

The Bear was not afraid. He stood up. His claws 
were very strong. His hoarse growls sounded along the 
sky. 

The battle of the Deer and the Bear shook the heavens. 
The Animals looked up from the .Great Island. They di- 
rected the Wolf to go up to the sky and stop the conflict. 

The Wolf made the Deer desist. But the blood of the 
Bear dripped from the antlers of the Deer as he ran 
away. It fell down upon the leaves of the trees on the 
Great Island. Every year when autumn paints the foliage 



1 03 
WYANDOT FOLK-LORE xv, ° 

of the land such beautiful colors the Wyandots say it is but 
the blood of the Bear again thrown down from heaven. 

[The beauties of the autumn foliage are also accounted for in 
another and different story, in which it is said that the Trees wept 
tears of blood at the loss of the Animals when they went into the 
sky to live permanently. This was in the autumn. At that sea- 
son of the year the Trees take on these beautiful colors in memory 
of that season of deep grief when they wept in an agony of bloody 
tears.] 

XXII.— ORIGIN OE THE MEDICINE FORMULAS 
OE THE WYANDOTS. 

Like all other Indians, the Wyandots depended for the 
cure of diseases much more upon that " medicine " which 
consisted in supernatural agencies, than upon remedies 
compounded from rational ingredients. The tribe was, 
however, in possession of formulas for the cure of some 
diseases, wounds, and injuries. Some of these, combined 
with the mode of life, vigor of constitution, and scant diet 
of the Indian, were of considerable efficacy. They were, 
too, of undoubted antiquity. To enhance the potency and 
virtue of these formulas, their origin was attributed to a 
supernatural manifestation in favor of the Wyandots. 
The myth made to preserve this divine interposition and 
to perpetuate it in the Wyandot tribe is as follows : 

Ear to the north of Quebec there is a great mountain. 
It is covered with mighty forests, the leaves of which are 
always as red as blood. This is the result of the great 
quantity of the blood of the Bear which was here thrown 
down from the sky in the battle between that Animal and 
the Deer. No amount of rain which has fallen in that land 



104 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

has ever been sufficient to wash away these blood-stains 
from this mountain, which is supposed to be, in a way, 
and to some degree, sacred to the bears of this lower world. 

A Wyandot and his Avife were once going from one 
village of the tribe to another. When they had ascended 
the high mountain below which was the lake, they were 
passing through a deep forest of dark pines. Here they 
were suddenly surrounded by a great ^company of Bears, 
who came tumbling down into the path or trail from the 
hillside above. There was no opportunity of escape, and 
as the Bears did not offer to molest them, the man and 
his wife came to some reassurance. Not only did the com- 
pany of Bears show no inclination to injure the Wyandots, 
but to their extreme astonishment the largest Bear, who 
seemed to be the leader of the company, stood erect on his 
hinder legs, and said to them: 

" You must go with us to our home in the Red Moun- 
tains. There you must both remain until it is our pleasure 
to dismiss you." 

The man and his wife supposed that they had fallen 
into the hands of some very cunning and dangerous 
hooh'-kehs who had assumed the form of the bear. They 
were much frightened. But as resistance would have 
caused them to be instantly torn in pieces, they went 
quietly enough in company with the Bears. These proved 
no bad companions of the road, either. I suppose no 
more jolly company of Bears ever lived anywhere, either 
in the Bed Range or out of it. They frolicked by the 
way, and were continually playing pranks upon each other. 
They danced in the openings. They tumbled in the dry 
leaves. They cuffed each other. They turned summersaults 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 105 

on the stretches of soft moss. They rolled down the steep 
hillsides which came in their way. They made the forests 
ring with their shouts, their hoarse growls, and their 
laughter. Indeed, so much like a company of young 
Wyandots about the village did these Bears demean them- 
selves that the man lost his fear, threw aside his restraint, 
and joined them in their sports. He received many a 
rough tumble in the wrestling, many a sound cuff in the 
boxing, many a mishap in the tumbling. But he took 
these with such grace and good-humor that it was soon 
clear that he had gained a high place in the estimation 
of his captors. 

As night was coming on, the Ked Range came in sight. 
Then the Bears set up a great cry of satisfaction. When 
they came into the midst of the Reel Hills they said to 
the man and his wife: 

" You are now in the Red Mountains. These are sacred 
to the Bears. They are dyed with the blood of our grand- 
father. A fine cave with plenty of dry leaves in it will 
be given you for a home. The finest nuts in the world 
grow here on every side ; take them for food. Be content 
here, for it is impossible for you to go away." 

A fine cleft in the rocks was then shown them; they 
were compelled to live in it. They gathered nuts for food. 
But they desired to return to their own home in the vil- 
lage of the Wyandots. One day the man said they must 
try to escape. They fled along the Red Hills. They were 
pursued and quickly overtaken by a troop of the Bears. 
" See," said they, " he runs away from those who give 
him a house and food. He deserves death." And, seizing 
him, they threw him down from a great height. He was 



106 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

sorely bruised, and all his bones were broken. They took 
him up and carried him back to the cave given him for 
a home. 

Upon their arrival at the cave the Bears said to the 
wife that she must gather certain leaves, roots, and barks, 
which they named to her. This she did, and the Bears 
told her in what manner to compound them. The sick 
man was given some of this " medicine," and immediately 
he was restored to his former good health. 

The next day he again attempted to escape from the 
Bed Bange. The pursuing Bears came up with him in 
his flight. They said : " See, he again tries to run away 
from those who give him a home and meat. He deserves 
no less than death by our claws." And with that they fell 
upon him and nearly rent him in pieces with their claws. 
They bore him to the cave given him for a home. Here 
the wife was once more directed to gather leaves, roots, 
and the barks of trees. She was shown how to make 
" medicine " of them. This she applied to her husband's 
wounds as directed by the Bears. And he was at once 
made whole again. 

In this manner he was afflicted with many kinds of 
diseases and injury, and in like manner restored to health. 
One day the Bears said to him: 

" We are friends to our brethren the Wyandots. We 
desire to show them the way to cure themselves when sick. 
We have afflicted you and taught your wife how to cure 
you. She knows how to make all the ' medicine.' Carry 
this knowledge back to your people. Tell them to honor 
the bones of the bears slain for food, and without fail to 
keep in use all the names in the list belonging to the Bear 



107 

WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 1V ■ 



Clan. Do not suffer any of them to be ' thrown away ' or 
to die from disuse." 

After this speech the company of Bears came about 
them, and they were conducted out of the beautiful Red 
Range in the same manner in which they were conducted 
into it. They came to the village of the Wyandots, and made 
known to them what had befallen them in the Red Moun- 
tain Range, and delivered the message sent by the good 
Bears that dwelt therein. And the formulas brought back 
by the woman never failed to cure the Wyandots of their 
ills. 

XXIII.— WHY THE DEER DROPS HIS HORXS 
EVERY YEAR. 

In the war between the Twins of the Woman who fell 
down from heaven Tah'-weh-skah'-reh invaded the land of 
his brother Tseh'-stah, who defeated him in a great battle. 
Tah'-weh-skah'-reh said to one of his warriors : 

" Bring me the swiftest animal in the forests of Tseh - 

stah." 

It was winter. The warrior brought him the Deer. 
The Deer was proud of his antlers. He held his head 
aloft. Tah'-weh-skah'-reh said to him: 

" This day must I nee from the land of my brother; 
bear me away on your back." 

All the Animals despised Tah'-weh-skah -reh, but they 
loved Tseh'-stah. The Deer said: 

" See my great horns ; they will hang in the branches of 
the trees as I run. The Hawk can carry you more swiftly 
than I." 



108 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Then did the rage of Tah'-weh-skah'-reh rise. In his 
anger he answered the Deer : 

"The Hawk would say, l You are too heavy for rny 
wings ' ; I will not call the Hawk." 

Saying this, he snatched off the Deer's horns, and then 
said to him: 

" Now flee with me to my own land, for my brother is 
near ; he seeks my life. In my own land I will return to 
you your horns." 

He compelled the Deer to do his will. But on the 
borders of his own land his brother was in such close 
pursuit that Tah'-weh-skah'-reh failed to return the Deer 
his horns; he fled with them in his hands, but dropped 
them when he escaped. Tseh'stah picked up the horns to 
return them to the Deer; but the Deer was humiliated. 
He did not come forth from the woods until late the next 
summer, after he had grown another pair of horns. 

To this day, when that season arrives in which Tah'-weh- 
skah'-reh broke away the horns of the Deer, the horns of 
every deer in the forests fall off. They are replaced by 
a pair of new ones as soon as they can grow, which is 
before the end of summer. 

Tseh'-stah retained the horns of the Deer for his weapon 
in war. In the last battle he slew his wicked brother, 
Tah'-weh-skah'-reh, with these same horns by him so 
cruelly torn from the head of the Deer. 



1AQ 
WYANDOT FOLK-LORE lui7 



XXIV — THE SINGING MAIDENS, OK THE 
OEIGIN OF THE PLEIADES. 

The pleiades have ever been favorite stars with mankind. 
And they were so with the Wyandots. They believed the 
constellation consists of six stars, only. The Wyandots 
account for the origin of this beautiful star-group in the 
following my th : 

The Sun and his wife, the Moon, had many children. 
Among these were six little girls, the daughters of a single 
birth. They were beautiful, kind, gentle and loving chil- 
dren They were great favorites in all the heavens, for 
they loved to go about and do good. In addition to their 
other accomplishments, they were the sweetest singers and 
the most tireless and graceful dancers in all the sky-land. 
They were called the Singing Maidens. 

These sweet singers often looked down to this world. 
They had compassion on the Wyandots when game was 
scarce, when the corn was blasted, when famine threatened. 
One day they said to their father, the Sun: 

" Let us go down to visit the Wyandots on the Great 
Island. We wish to sing and dance in that land." 

The Sun said in reply, to his daughters, the Singing 

Maidens: ." 

" I forbid your going down to the Great Island to sing 
for man. Kemain in your own house. Be content with 

the heavens." 

But when the Sun was gone to give light and heat to the 
Great Island, these Children of Light, the Singing Maid- 
ens, went abroad. They looked down on the Great Island. 



110 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

They saw the Wyandot villages almost concealed by the 
beautiful woods on the banks of the lake. The glittering 
waves rolled in upon the pebble-strewn beach. The blue 
waters reflected the autumn-colored woods. The gulls, 
geese and swans floated at rest on the bosom of the lake, 
or soared lazily aloft. The great crane waded and fished 
among the water-lilies. Little children ran from the 
village down to the beaten shores. They were merry on 
the yellow sands. They swam and splashed in the brilliant 
waters. Mermaids were not more lovely than these simple 
children of the forest playing upon the shores of the lovely 
lake on the Great Island. This enchanting scene moved 
the Singing Maidens to ecstacy. They cried out: 

" Here is a more beautiful land than can be found in 
the sky. Why should we be restrained from visiting it'? 
Let us now go down and dance with those happy children, 
and sing among the beautiful trees on the shore of the 
bright lake." 

Then the Singing Maidens came down to the shining 
sands on the lake-shore. They sang for the happy children, 
and danced upon the rippling waters. The children were 
charmed with the Maidens ; they clapped their hands ; 
they sang for joy ; they ran and danced along the wooded 
banks. 

The music of the Maidens and the sounds of the merry- 
making children floated through the great trees to the Wy- 
andot villages. The people stood entranced. They said to 
each other : " What music is this ? We have not heard 
before so lovely a song. Let us see who visits our children/ ' 
And they went towards the lake-shore. 

When they saw the Singing Maidens, the Black Cloud 



WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 111 

of the Little Turtle overshadowed the land. The voice ol 
Heh'-noh, the Grandfather of the Wyandots, rolled over 
the lake in thunder-tones. It was the Keeper of the 
Heavens come to carry up the truant Singing Maidens. 

The Sun was very angry with his daughters for their 
disobedience. He said to them : 

" I will give you a place so far away that you can never 
again visit the Great Island." 

Then he placed them in a distant circuit so far away 
in the land of the sky that their bright and shining faces 
can scarcely be seen. They look with love down to the 
land of man where once they sang on the billowy lake and 
danced with happy children on the shining shore. 

And the Indian mother says yet to her child in the 
calm and silent twilight : " Be quiet and sit here at my 
feet; soon we shall hear the Singing Maidens as they 
dance among the leaves of the trees." 

XXV.— THE INDIAN GAMBLEBS — AX O'EK 
TRUE TALE. 1 

" I will stand the hazard of the die." — Richard TIL 

In the summer of 1773, a numerous body of Indians 
from the Northwest was assembled at Detroit. This place, 
besides being a military post, well supplied with military 
stores, was the great mart for the fur trade. The most 
numerous of these visiting tribes were the Ohippewas, the 

J This is a tradition among the Wyandots. It was written out and published in the 
Gazette, of Kansas City, Kansas, by Governor William Walker, long ago, sometime in 
the sixties or early in the seventies. This is taken from the Gazette. It is told in 
different forms by the Wyandots. The old files of the Gazette are mines of information 
about Kansas affairs and early Kansas history. Hon. Geo. W. Martin is now editor. 



112 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Wyandots, and some Pottawatomies and Ottawas resid- 
ing on both sides of the river now dividing Michigan from 
Canada West. 

These annual visits to the British headquarters were for 
trading purposes; exchanging their year's hunt for such 
necessaries of Indian use as could be supplied by the trad- 
ers, such as blankets, cloth, calico, tobacco, guns, ammuni- 
tion, etc. Many were there for no other purpose than 
spending the summer, as our fashionables do at watering- 
places, in idleness, and enjoying " fun and frolic." Ball- 
plays, foot-races, wrestling, and at night dog feasts (a re- 
ligious festival among the Chippewas), and dances of 
every kind known among them. 

The chiefs and head men in the meantime held coun- 
cils, and smoked the calumet of peace with the English 
commandant, to hear the talk of their great father the 
King of England, and to receive presents. The women 
were employed in tanning and dressing elk- and deer-skins, 
cooking, etc. 

Games of chance are not, as a passion, confined to civili- 
zation, but are indulged in by the wild an uncivilized as 
well. Among their rude games is one known as " mocca- 
sin." Two only can play at the game. They are seated 
face to face on a buffalo- or deer-skin. Four new moccasins 
and a rifle-ball make up the implements employed in the 
game. 

The moccasins are placed nearly equidistant, like a four- 
spot on a playing-card. The players, seated cross-legged, 
facing each other, now toss up for the ball or first " hide." 
The winner, taking the ball between his thumb and two 
fingers, proceeds with great dexterity, shuffling his hand 






WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 



under the first, second, third and fourth moccasins, and 
humming a ditty accompanied by some cabalistic words 
invoking the aid of his patron deity. It now comes to 1 1n- 
opposing player to "find" at the first, second, or third 
" lift." If at the first, it counts a given number in his 
favor —say four ; if at the second, two ; and the third, one. 
The latter player now takes the ball and goes through the 
same process. Ten usually constitutes the game, but the 
number is as the players may agree. 

At this game a Wyandot and a Chippewa became 
warmly engaged, betting lightly at first of the peltries 
acquired during the winter's hunt. They had played an 
hour or two each day for some days; the last loser, unwil- 
ling to yield the palm of victory, would insist upon a re- 
newal of the contest. Thus day after day was spent. No 
ulterior calls or demands were permitted to interfere with 
or stav their maddened passion. Success vibrated between 
the two with provoking uncertainty; still they played on. 
The expostulations of their respective friends were fruit- 
less. Pent up in a charmed circle which neither had the 
moral force to break, they became devotees to this fatal 
passion. At length luck began to favor the Wyandot; 
beaver- and otter-skins began to accumulate upon the heap 
of the latter. The Chippewa's pile began to " grow small 
by degrees and beautifully less." The game was kept up. 
At length the Chippewa's last pelt was gone; his rifle, m 
a fit of desperation, was staked: that, too, was lost! 

Here the protracted game must end ; but fate had more 
evils, vet undeveloped, to be brought upon the tapis- 
their evil genius had more serious work on hand for them. 
The Chippewa now offered to stake his life against the 



114 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 

Wyandot's winnings. This was promptly refused. The 
Chippewa insisted, becoming frantic with rage, indigna- 
tion and desperation, and obstinacy became fury. In thus 
parleying, the Chippewa used some offensive language to 
the Wyandot, who immediately accepted the challenge. 
They resumed their seats. The game went on ; perspiration 
stood upon the forehead of the Chippewa. The last " lift " 
and " find " came to the Wyandot — a pause — a " lift " — 
a " find " ! 

" Lost ! lost ! ! " frantically exclaimed the unfortunate 
Chippewa. Springing to his feet and uttering a yell, 
he bounded off in the direction of the fort, distant about a 
mile. The Wyandot, indignant at such an act of craven 
poltroonery, instantly pursued the fugitive. The latter, 
seeing his enemy in hot pursuit, redoubled his speed. 
Doubtful for some time seemed the race. The Wyandot 
began to slowly gain ; shorter and shorter became the 
space between the pursuer and the fugitive. At length 
the latter, finding escape hopeless, halted and faced about, 
when the avenger laid his victim at his feet by plunging 
his knife deep into his heart. 

Here was trouble. Hitherto the most amicable relations 
had existed between the two tribes. The Wyandot sachem 
ordered the arrest and confinement of the murderer till an 
accommodation could be effected with the exasperated 
Chippewas. The chiefs of the parties met in council; a 
formal demand was made for the murderer; this was de- 
clined. A bonus was offered, but it was rejected; other 
offers were made, but to no purpose. The mediation of the 
commanding officer was invoked; he promptly appeared' 
and harangued the Chippewas with eloquence and power 






WYANDOT FOLK-LORE 115 

in the name of their good father the king, and offered in the 
character of peacemaker an additional bonns in goods out 
of the king's storehouse. This intervention met with no 
better success. 

Now the prisoner arose and addressed the assembly; 
first, the Wyandots, requesting them to cease all further 
efforts in his behalf. Then turning to the Chippewas, he 
made a full statement of what had occurred between him 
and his friend, declaring that he had no intention of harm- 
ing him had he stood up like a brave, nor did he intend to 
retain his rifle, knowing it was the means of his subsist- 
ence. "But I slew him for his cowardice." He then asked 
to be permitted to attend the funeral unmolested, pledging 
himself to return and surrender himself up. This was 
agreed to, but his liberty was to extend no farther than 
the close of the funeral. 

The prisoner, being released on his parole, returned 
home, dressed and painted himself in such manner as to 
appear in the character of a mourner, and armed himself 
with tomahawk and scalping-knife. Thus equipped, he 
proceeded to the Chippewa encampment, and deliberately 
seated himself at the head of the corpse. The crowd in 
attendance were astonished at the display of impudence 
and audacity of the man. He expected to be immolated 
at the burial, and had hinted to some of his friends that 
some more Chippewas would bear him company. Every- 
thing being ready, the funeral party set out, the Wyandot 
walking near the corpse. Arriving at the grave, heedless 
of their suppressed threats and angry scowls he seated him- 
self near the corpse. The burial over, he arose to his feet. 
A pause, as if awaiting some movement or signal, when 



116 TWENTIETH CENTIXKY CLASSICS 

an aged woman, weeping bitterly, approached the Wyan- 
dot and addressed him : " Wyandot, under that pile of 
earth lies my only son, who alone was my dependence and 
support. Pie is yonr victim. Your life is in my hands, 
bnt I thirst not for yonr blood. I have no one to look to 
for the support of myself and these fatherless and mother- 
less children. My pathway is now dark and gloomy. I 
know not what to do now. Will yon take his place — be 
my son, and a father to these children ? " 

The answer was : " Woman of the Chippewas, I have 
heard yonr talk. My heart was hard, bnt yonr talk, and 
the tears of yonrself and these children, have made it 
soft. Till now I knew nothing of the family and rela- 
tives of him I slew. I will do it. I will protect and sup- 
port yon and these orphans. I will be a son to yon and a 
father to them. Bnt," turning to the gathered warriors, 
" remember, I do this not because I fear your vengeance ; 
no, but because I believe the Mighty Ruler requires this 
atonement at my hands." 

Taking him by the hand, she added : " Now the spirit 
of my son will depart in peace to the beautiful hunting- 
grounds prepared by the Manitou for his Red Children." 

Waving her hand to the crowd of scowling warriors, 
they slowly and sullenly dispersed. 

The Wyandot made good his promise. He lived to bury 
hi* adopted mother. He was as a father to the children. 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 



The publication of the larger work on this subject by 
the author will follow. It is hoped that it will be in press 
in a short time. It is completed. It contains all the folk- 
lore of the Wyandots that is in existence, a full description 
of the Clan System and Government of the ancient Wy- 
andots, with all the Wyandot names and terms. It will 
contain a very extensive vocabulary of the Wyandot lan- 
guage — the only one of any worth in existence; also a 
study of the language, with cuts of first attempts to reduce 
it to a written form. It will contain also the old Meth- 
odist hymns translated into the Wyandot tongue. In the 
way of history it will contain the important unpublished 
writings of Governor William Walker and Peter D. Clarke, 
the two native writers. 

This is the only work ever attempted which deals in a 
thorough and systematic way with these subjects in a 
manner to be of any use to science. But it will not be a 
dry and scientific work. Those competent to judge have 
examined the manuscript, and pronounce it a book full of 
interest for the general reader. The late Professor Dauiol 
G. Brinton, of the University of Pennsylvania, and one of 
the foremost American writers on these subjects, examined 
the manuscript, and gave it his unqualified approval. 



Foster's Reference Manual 

.... AND .... 

OUTLINES IN 
U NITED STATES HISTORY. 

A MANUAL FOR TEACHERS' INSTITUTES AND THE SCHOOL-ROOM 

BY 

PROFESSOR ELI Q. FOSTER, 

PRINCIPAL HARRISON SCHOOL, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 



New Edition. Enlarged and Revised. 148 Pages. Price, Cloth, 40 
Cents ; Paper, 30 Cents, Delivered. 



The distinctive features of this valuable aid are — 

1. The outline of the important historical events and great 

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2. The topical outline showing the development and progress 

of institutional, industrial, and social life. 

3. The topical outline of our wars by campaigns, illustrated 

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4. The novel topical arrangement of the causes of National 

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The whole subject of the history of the United States outlined 
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Acknowledged by leading educators as the best work extant for students 
and teachers of history in Common Schools, Normal Schools, County Normal 
Institutes, Summer Schools, and Colleges. 



THE STORY OF 

HUMAN PROGRESS 



.... BY. 



FRANK W. BLACKMAR, Ph. D., 



Professor of History and Sociology in the 
Kansas University. 



A brief history of Civilization. An Elementary Treatise 

on the Progress of the Human Race, designed 

for a brief survey of the whole field. 



375 Pages. Full Cloth. Price, $1.00. 



The work is arranged in the following logical steps — 

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A book of thorough treatment ; of the highest excellence ; of 
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The Civil War 

BY CAMPAIGNS. 

....BY.... 

PROFESSOR ELI G. FOSTER. 



A New and Valuable Book in a field where one is much needed. 
Intended to cover this interesting period in the history of our 
country on the entirely new and novel plan of Campaigns, with 
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systematic way. 

One Volume, 300 Pages. Full Cloth. $1.00, prepaid. 






The chief difficulty in teaching this subject in the chrono- 
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The work contains a full set of colored campaign maps 
Among other things it includes — 

1. Causes and events leading to the war. 

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6. Bragg's Invasion of Kentucky. 

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8. Sherman's March to the Sea. 

9. All raids and campaigns of any consequence. 



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